Ab initio in-medium similarity renormalization group for open-shell atomic systems

Abstract

Precise theoretical calculations of open-shell atomic systems are critical for extracting fundamental physics parameters from precision experiments. Here we present proof-of-principle calculations illustrating the effectiveness of the valence-space formulation of the ab initio in-medium similarity renormalization group, widely used in nuclear theory, as a new ab initio method for atomic systems. We adapt this approach to study properties of closed- and open-shell many-electron systems from helium to calcium. Ground-state energies, excitation spectra, and ionization energies are obtained for selected atoms, and reasonable agreement is found with benchmark coupled-cluster and many-body perturbation theory calculations, where available.