arXiv subjects

J. W. Holt

Publications and source records attributed to J. W. Holt.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2014

Auxiliary-Field Quantum Monte Carlo Simulations of Neutron Matter in Chiral Effective Field Theory

We present variational Monte Carlo calculations of the neutron matter equation of state using chiral nuclear forces. The ground-state wavefunction of neutron matter, containing non-perturbative many-body correlations, is obtained from auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo simulations of up to about 340 neutrons interacting on a 10^3 discretized lattice. The evolution Hamiltonian is chosen to be attractive and spin-independent in order to avoid the fermion sign problem and is constructed to best reproduce broad features of the chiral nuclear force. This is facilitated by choosing a lattice spacing of 1.5 fm, corresponding to a momentum-space cutoff of Lambda = 414 MeV/c, a resolution scale at which strongly repulsive features of nuclear two-body forces are suppressed. Differences between the evolution potential and the full chiral nuclear interaction (Entem and Machleidt Lambda = 414 MeV) are then treated perturbatively. Our results for the equation of state are compared to previous quantum Monte Carlo simulations which employed chiral two-body forces at next-to-next-to-leading order (N2LO). In addition we include the effects of three-body forces at N2LO, which provide important repulsion at densities higher than 0.02 fm^-3, as well as two-body forces at N3LO.

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arXiv2014

Core polarization, Brown-Rho scaling and a memory of Gerry's Princeton years

Core-polarization (CP) and Brown-Rho (BR) scaling were among Gerry's most favorite topics. In this contribution, we will discuss some of the early history as well as more recent work associated with these two fascinating phenomena. I (TTSK) will begin with some recollections of Princeton, where I met Gerry for the first time in 1964 and worked as his postdoc. Core polarization was in fact the first topic he assigned to me. JWH started working with Gerry at Stony Brook from 2003 and was Gerry's last student in nuclear physics. We three had teamed up well, working closely on both CP and BR scaling, particularly on the latter's connection to the anomalously-long beta-decay lifetime of carbon-14. We shall here briefly review these topics, including a recently developed new Brown-Rho scaling based on a Skyrmion half-Skyrmion two-phase model.

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arXiv2014

Nuclear pairing from microscopic forces: singlet channels and higher-partial waves

Background: An accurate description of nuclear pairing gaps is extremely important for understanding static and dynamic properties of the inner crusts of neutron stars and to explain their cooling process. Purpose: We plan to study the behavior of the pairing gaps $Δ_F$ as a function of the Fermi momentum $k_F$ for neutron and nuclear matter in all relevant angular momentum channels where superfluidity is believed to naturally emerge. The calculations will employ realistic chiral nucleon-nucleon potentials with the inclusion of three-body forces and self-energy effects. Methods: The superfluid states of neutron and nuclear matter are studied by solving the BCS gap equation for chiral nuclear potentials using the method suggested by Khodel et al., where the original gap equation is replaced by a coupled set of equations for the dimensionless gap function $χ(p)$ defined by $Δ(p) = Δ_F χ(p)$ and a non-linear algebraic equation for the gap magnitude $Δ_F = Δ(p_F)$ at the Fermi surface. This method is numerically stable even for small pairing gaps, such as that encountered in the coupled $^3PF_2$ partial wave. Results: We have successfully applied Khodel's method to singlet ($S$) and coupled channel ($SD$ and $PF$) cases in neutron and nuclear matter. Our calculations agree with other ab-initio approaches, where available, and provide crucial inputs for future applications in superfluid systems.

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arXiv2014

The nuclear matter equation of state with consistent two- and three-body perturbative chiral interactions

We compute the energy per particle of infinite symmetric nuclear matter from chiral N3LO (next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order) two-body potentials plus N2LO three-body forces. The low-energy constants of the chiral three-nucleon force that cannot be constrained by two-body observables are fitted to reproduce the triton binding energy and the 3H-3He Gamow-Teller transition matrix element. In this way, the saturation properties of nuclear matter are reproduced in a parameter-free approach. The equation of state is computed up to third order in many-body perturbation theory, with special emphasis on the role of the third-order particle-hole diagram. The dependence of these results on the cutoff scale and regulator function is studied. We find that the inclusion of three-nucleon forces consistent with the applied two-nucleon interaction leads to a reduced dependence on the choice of the regulator only for lower values of the cutoff.

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arXiv2014

Study of nucleonic matter with a consistent two- and three-body perturbative chiral interaction

We calculate perturbatively the energy per nucleon in infinite nuclear matter with a chiral N3LO (next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order) two-body potential plus a N2LO three-body force (3BF). The 3BF low-energy constants which cannot be constrained by two-body observables are chosen such as to reproduce the A=3 binding energies and the triton Gamow-Teller matrix element. This enables to study the nuclear matter equation of state in a parameter-free approach.

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arXiv2013

Nuclear chiral dynamics and thermodynamics

This presentation reviews an approach to nuclear many-body systems based on the spontaneously broken chiral symmetry of low-energy QCD. In the low-energy limit, for energies and momenta small compared to a characteristic symmetry breaking scale of order 1 GeV, QCD is realized as an effective field theory of Goldstone bosons (pions) coupled to heavy fermionic sources (nucleons). Nuclear forces at long and intermediate distance scales result from a systematic hierarchy of one- and two-pion exchange processes in combination with Pauli blocking effects in the nuclear medium. Short distance dynamics, not resolved at the wavelengths corresponding to typical nuclear Fermi momenta, are introduced as contact interactions between nucleons. Apart from a set of low-energy constants associated with these contact terms, the parameters of this theory are entirely determined by pion properties and low-energy pion-nucleon scattering observables. This framework (in-medium chiral perturbation theory) can provide a realistic description of both isospin-symmetric nuclear matter and neutron matter. The importance of three-body forces is emphasized, and the role of explicit Delta(1232)-isobar degrees of freedom is investigated in detail. Nuclear chiral thermodynamics is developed and a calculation of the nuclear phase diagram is performed. This includes a successful description of the first-order phase transition from a nuclear Fermi liquid to an interacting Fermi gas and the coexistence of these phases below a critical temperature T_c. Density functional methods for finite nuclei based on this approach are also discussed. Effective interactions, their density dependence and connections to Landau Fermi liquid theory are outlined. Finally, the density and temperature dependence of the chiral (quark) condensate is investigated.

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arXiv2013

Microscopic optical potential from chiral nuclear forces

The energy- and density-dependent single-particle potential for nucleons is constructed in a medium of infinite isospin-symmetric nuclear matter starting from realistic nuclear interactions derived within the framework of chiral effective field theory. The leading-order terms from both two- and three-nucleon forces give rise to real, energy-independent contributions to the nucleon self-energy. The Hartree-Fock contribution from the two-nucleon force is attractive and strongly momentum dependent, in contrast to the contribution from the three-nucleon force which provides a nearly constant repulsive mean field that grows approximately linearly with the nuclear density. Together, the leading-order perturbative contributions yield an attractive single-particle potential that is however too weak compared to phenomenology. Second-order contributions from two- and three-body forces then provide the additional attraction required to reach the phenomenological depth. The imaginary part of the optical potential, which is positive (negative) for momenta below (above) the Fermi momentum, arises at second-order and is nearly inversion-symmetric about the Fermi surface when two-nucleon interactions alone are present. The imaginary part is strongly absorptive and requires the inclusion of an effective mass correction as well as self-consistent single-particle energies to attain qualitative agreement with phenomenology.

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arXiv2013

Reduced regulator dependence of neutron-matter predictions with chiral interactions

We calculate the energy per particle in infinite neutron matter perturbatively using chiral N3LO two-body potentials plus N2LO three-body forces. The cutoff dependence of the predictions is investigated by employing chiral interactions with different regulators. We find that the inclusion of three-nucleon forces, which are consistent with the applied two-nucleon interaction, leads to a strongly reduced regulator dependence of the results.

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arXiv2012

Chiral Fermi liquid approach to neutron matter

We present a microscopic calculation of the complete quasiparticle interaction, including central as well as noncentral components, in neutron matter from high-precision two- and three-body forces derived within the framework of chiral effective field theory. The contributions from two-nucleon forces are computed in many-body perturbation theory to first and second order (without any simplifying approximations). In addition we include the leading-order one-loop diagrams from the N2LO chiral three-nucleon force, which contribute to all Fermi liquid parameters except those associated with the center-of-mass tensor interaction. The relative-momentum dependence of the quasiparticle interaction is expanded in Legendre polynomials up to L=2. Second-order Pauli blocking and medium polarization effects act coherently in specific channels, namely for the Landau parameters f_1, h_0 and g_0, which results in a dramatic increase in the quasiparticle effective mass as well as a decrease in both the effective tensor force and the neutron matter spin susceptibility. For densities greater than about half nuclear matter saturation density ρ_0, the contributions to the Fermi liquid parameters from the leading-order chiral three-nucleon force scale in all cases approximately linearly with the nucleon density. The largest effect of the three-nucleon force is to generate a strongly repulsive effective interaction in the isotropic spin-independent channel. We show that the leading-order chiral three-nucleon force leads to an increase in the spin susceptibility of neutron matter, but we observe no evidence for a ferromagnetic spin instability in the vicinity of the saturation density ρ_0. This work sets the foundation for future studies of neutron matter response to weak and electromagnetic probes with applications to neutron star structure and evolution.

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arXiv2011

Chiral nuclear dynamics with three-body forces

We review recent progress in implementing high-precision chiral two- and three-body forces in nuclear many-body systems beyond light nuclei. We begin with applications to finite nuclei, which we study through the nuclear shell model and self-consistent mean field theory. We then turn our attention to infinite nuclear matter treated within the framework of Landau's theory of normal Fermi liquids.

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arXiv2011

Quasiparticle interaction in nuclear matter with chiral three-nucleon forces

We derive the effective interaction between two quasiparticles in symmetric nuclear matter resulting from the leading-order chiral three-nucleon force. We restrict our study to the L=0,1 Landau parameters of the central quasiparticle interaction computed to first order. We find that the three-nucleon force provides substantial repulsion in the isotropic spin- and isospin-independent component F_0 of the interaction. This repulsion acts to stabilize nuclear matter against isoscalar density oscillations, a feature which is absent in calculations employing low-momentum two-nucleon interactions only. We find a rather large uncertainty for the nuclear compression modulus due to a sensitive dependence on the low-energy constant c_3. The effective nucleon mass on the Fermi surface, as well as the nuclear symmetry energy, receive only small corrections from the leading-order chiral three-body force. Both the anomalous orbital g-factor and the Landau-Migdal parameter g'_{NN} (characterizing the spin-isospin response of nuclear matter) decrease with the addition of three-nucleon correlations. In fact, the anomalous orbital g-factor remains significantly smaller than its value extracted from experimental data, whereas g'_{NN} still compares well with empirical values. The inclusion of the three-nucleon force results in relatively small p-wave (L=1) components of the central quasiparticle interaction, thus suggesting an effective interaction of short range.

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arXiv2011

Nuclear energy density functional from chiral two- and three-nucleon interactions

An improved density-matrix expansion is used to calculate the nuclear energy density functional from chiral two- and three-nucleon interactions. The two-body interaction comprises long-range one- and two-pion exchange contributions and a set of contact terms contributing up to fourth power in momenta. In addition we employ the leading order chiral three-nucleon interaction with its parameters $c_E, c_D$ and $c_{1,3,4}$ fixed in calculations of nuclear few-body systems. With this input the nuclear energy density functional is derived to first order in the two- and three-nucleon interaction. We find that the strength functions $F_\nabla(ρ)$ and $F_{so}(ρ)$ of the surface and spin-orbit terms compare in the relevant density range reasonably with results of phenomenological Skyrme forces. However, an improved description requires (at least) the treatment of the two-body interaction to second order. This observation is in line with the deficiencies in the nuclear matter equation of state $\bar E(ρ)$ that remain in the Hartree-Fock approximation with low-momentum two- and three-nucleon interactions.

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arXiv2011

Second-order quasiparticle interaction in nuclear matter with chiral two-nucleon interactions

We employ Landau's theory of normal Fermi liquids to study the quasiparticle interaction in nuclear matter in the vicinity of saturation density. Realistic low-momentum nucleon-nucleon interactions evolved from the Idaho N3LO chiral two-body potential are used as input potentials. We derive for the first time exact results for the central part of the quasiparticle interaction computed to second order in perturbation theory, from which we extract the L=0 and L=1 Landau parameters as well as some relevant bulk equilibrium properties of nuclear matter. The accuracy of the intricate numerical calculations is tested with analytical results derived for scalar-isoscalar boson exchange and (modified) pion exchange at second order. The explicit dependence of the Fermi liquid parameters on the low-momentum cutoff scale is studied, which provides important insight into the scale variation of phase-shift equivalent two-body potentials. This leads naturally to explore the role that three-nucleon forces must play in the effective interaction between two quasiparticles.

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arXiv2011

Non-degenerate shell-model effective interactions from the Okamoto-Suzuki and Krenciglowa-Kuo iteration methods

We present calculations of shell-model effective interactions for both degenerate and non-degenerate model spaces using the Krenciglowa-Kuo (KK) and the extended Krenciglowa-Kuo iteration method recently developed by Okamoto, Suzuki {\it et al.} (EKKO). The starting point is the low-momentum nucleon-nucleon interaction $V_{low-k}$ obtained from the N$^3$LO chiral two-nucleon interaction. The model spaces spanned by the $sd$ and $sdpf$ shells are both considered. With a solvable model, we show that both the KK and EKKO methods are convenient for deriving the effective interactions for non-degenerate model spaces. The EKKO method is especially desirable in this situation since the vertex function $\hat Z$-box employed therein is well behaved while the corresponding vertex function $\hat Q$-box employed in the Lee-Suzuki (LS) and KK methods may have singularities. The converged shell-model effective interactions given by the EKKO and KK methods are equivalent, although the former method is considerably more efficient. The degenerate $sd$-shell effective interactions given by the LS method are practically identical to those from the EKKO and KK methods. Results of the $sd$ one-shell and $sdpf$ two-shell calculations for $^{18}$O, $^{18}$F, $^{19}$O and $^{19}$F using the EKKO effective interactions are compared, and the importance of the shell-model three-nucleon forces is discussed.

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arXiv2011

Shell-model descriptions of mass 16-19 nuclei with chiral two- and three-nucleon interactions

Shell-model calculations for several mass 16-19 nuclei are performed using the N$^3$LO two-nucleon potential $V_{2N}$ with and without the addition of an in-medium three-nucleon potential $V_{3N}^{med}$, which is a density-dependent effective two-nucleon potential recently derived from the leading-order chiral three-nucleon force $V_{3N}$ by Holt, Kaiser, and Weise. We first calculate the $V_{low-k}$ low-momentum interactions from $V_{2N}$ and $V_{3N}^{med}$. The shell-model effective interactions for both the $sd$ one-shell and $sdpf$ two-shell model spaces are then obtained from these low-momentum interactions using respectively the Lee-Suzuki and the recently developed Okamoto and Suzuki iteration methods. The effects of $V_{3N}^{med}$ to the low-lying states of $^{18}O$, $^{18}F$, $^{19}O$ and $^{19}F$ are generally small and attractive, mainly lowering the ground-state energies of these nuclei and making them in better agreements with experiments than those calculated with $V_{2N}$ alone. The excitation spectra of these nuclei are not significantly affected by $V_{3N}^{med}$. The low-lying spectra of these nuclei calculated with the $sd$ and $sdpf$ model spaces are closely similar to each other. Our shell-model calculations for $^{16}O$ indicate that the $V_{3N}^{med}$ interaction is important and desirable for the binding energy of this nucleus.

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arXiv2010

Density-dependent nuclear interactions and the beta decay of 14C: chiral three-nucleon forces and Brown-Rho scaling

We study the role of density-dependent low-momentum nucleon-nucleon interactions in describing the anomalously long beta decay lifetime of 14C. We approach this problem both from the perspective of chiral effective field theory, in which genuine three-body forces generate an effective density-dependent two-body interaction, as well as from the perspective of Brown-Rho scaling, in which the masses and form factor cutoffs in one-boson-exchange interactions are modified in a dense nuclear medium due to the partial restoration of chiral symmetry. The beta decay transition of 14C to the ground state of 14N is calculated within the shell model using a model space consisting of two 0p-shell holes within a closed 16O core. The effective 0p-shell interaction is calculated up to second order in perturbation theory with single-particle energies extracted from experiment. We find that both three-nucleon forces and Brown-Rho scaling medium modifications give qualitatively similar results not only for the ground state to ground state Gamow-Teller transition but also for Gamow-Teller transitions from excited states of 14C to the ground state of 14N. In this way, it is observed that at a low-momentum scale of V_(low-k) = 2.1 fm-1, medium-modifications of the nuclear force play an essential role in increasing the lifetime of 14C from a few minutes to an archaeologically long one of 5730 years.

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arXiv2009

Density-dependent effective nucleon-nucleon interaction from chiral three-nucleon forces

We derive density-dependent corrections to the in-medium nucleon-nucleon interaction from the leading-order chiral three-nucleon force. To this order there are six distinct one-loop diagrams contributing to the in-medium nucleon-nucleon scattering T-matrix. Analytic expressions are presented for each of these in both isospin-symmetric nuclear matter as well as nuclear matter with a small isospin asymmetry. The results are combined with the low-momentum nucleon-nucleon potential V(low-k) to obtain an effective density-dependent interaction suitable for nuclear structure calculations. The in-medium interaction is decomposed into partial waves up to orbital angular momentum L = 2. Our results should be particularly useful in calculations where an exact treatment of the chiral three-nucleon force would otherwise be computationally prohibitive.

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arXiv2009

Low-momentum NN interactions and all-order summation of ring diagrams of symmetric nuclear matter

We study the equation of state for symmetric nuclear matter using a ring-diagram approach in which the particle-particle hole-hole ($pphh$) ring diagrams within a momentum model space of decimation scale $Λ$ are summed to all orders. The calculation is carried out using the renormalized low-momentum nucleon-nucleon (NN) interaction $V_{low-k}$, which is obtained from a bare NN potential by integrating out the high-momentum components beyond $Λ$. The bare NN potentials of CD-Bonn, Nijmegen and Idaho have been employed. The choice of $Λ$ and its influence on the single particle spectrum are discussed. Ring-diagram correlations at intermediate momenta ($k\simeq$ 2 fm$^{-1}$) are found to be particularly important for nuclear saturation, suggesting the necessity of using a sufficiently large decimation scale so that the above momentum region is not integrated out. Using $V_{low-k}$ with $Λ\sim 3$ fm$^{-1}$, we perform a ring-diagram computation with the above potentials, which all yield saturation energies $E/A$ and Fermi momenta $k_F^{(0)}$ considerably larger than the empirical values. On the other hand, similar computations with the medium-dependent Brown-Rho scaled NN potentials give satisfactory results of $E/A \simeq -15$ MeV and $k_F^{(0)}\simeq 1.4$ fm$^{-1}$. The effect of this medium dependence is well reproduced by an empirical 3-body force of the Skyrme type.

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