arXiv subjects

Nir Barnea

Publications and source records attributed to Nir Barnea.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Improving the accuracy of the Lorentz Integral Transform method using complex kernels

The Lorentz integral transform (LIT) method is a powerful tool for calculating quantum response functions; however, it requires an ill-posed inversion. Here we show that solutions of the LIT equation can also determine two additional integral transforms: a complex Stieltjes transform and a double-pole transform, at little additional computational cost. A Fourier analysis of the associated deconvolution problem shows that both alternative kernels are better conditioned than the Lorentzian kernel at the same width parameter $\Gamma $. We benchmark the resulting inversions for deuteron photodisintegration by adding controlled noise to the LIT solutions. Relative to the standard LIT, the alternative kernels yield response functions with reduced noise-induced scatter: by a factor of 2-3 for the complex Stieltjes kernel and 3-4 for the double-pole kernel.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2026

Nuclear Charge Radius of $^9$Be from Muonic Atom Spectroscopy Using a Microcalorimeter

The $2p\to1s$ transition energy in muonic $^9$Be was measured using a metallic magnetic calorimeter, resulting in $E_{2p\to 1s}=33\,391.48(34)\,$eV. The result is 30 times more precise than the previous best measurement and enables the extraction of the corresponding nuclear charge radius $r_c($$^9$Be$)=2.5506(51)\,$fm. It is $2.4$ times more precise than the commonly used value based on electron scattering and differs from it by $2.3$ times the combined uncertainties. This measurement represents the first determination of a nuclear charge radius using muonic x-ray spectroscopy with microcalorimeters.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2026

Scaling Laws for Three-Body Nuclear Contacts

Three-nucleon short-range correlations (3N-SRCs) represent one of the least understood manifestations of short-range nuclear dynamics. We investigate these correlations within the generalized contact formalism and compute three-body nuclear contacts using a mean-field description of the long-range component of the nuclear wave function. These contacts quantify the probability of finding correlated nucleon triplets at short distances and provide a natural extension of the contact formalism beyond nucleon pairs. We find that the $^{3}$He and $^{3}$H contacts exhibit significant isospin-symmetry breaking, analogous to that observed previously for two-body contacts. Motivated by the semi-empirical mass formula, we derive a simple scaling relation for three-body contacts and show that it accurately reproduces the calculated values across medium-mass and heavy nuclei. Our results reveal a systematic dependence of 3N-SRCs on nuclear mass and composition, suggesting that three-body contacts obey universal scaling patterns closely analogous to those governing short-range-correlated nucleon pairs.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2026

High-Order Matrix Numerov for Singular Potentials

The matrix Numerov method provides an efficient framework for solving the time-independent Schrödinger equation as a matrix eigenvalue problem. However, for singular potentials such as the Coulomb interaction, the expected fourth-order convergence deteriorates for low angular momenta due to the behavior of the potential near the origin. We show that this loss of accuracy originates from an implicit boundary assumption in the standard formulation. By incorporating analytic near-origin information into the discretized Hamiltonian, we derive simple boundary corrections that restore fourth-order convergence and can even produce higher convergence rates for $s$- and $p$-wave energies. The resulting scheme preserves the simplicity and computational efficiency of the original method while significantly improving its accuracy for singular potentials.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2025

A practical approach to perturbative corrections to few-body observables

We formulate two methods to facilitate the calculation of perturbative corrections to quantum few-body observables. Both techniques are designed for a numerical realization in combination with any tool that obtains either the entire spectrum or solely the eigenvalues of an operator corresponding to the observable of interest. We exemplify these methods in the context of the nuclear contact theory without pions (Pionless EFT) and benchmark them in the deuteron channel with available analytical, field-theoretical calculations, as well as in the triton and 3-helium channels through earlier extractions within the dibaryon formalism, where in all three systems the point-proton root-mean-square charge radius (rms) was the perturbed observable of choice. Beyond these $A\leq3$ consistency and accuracy checks, we employ the numerical methods to predict the rms of the 4-helium nuclear ground state to assess three different ways of integrating the Coulomb interaction into Pionless EFT. By comparing the respective results at leading and next-to-leading order for 3- and 4-helium, we find that the uncertainty due to the strong, short-range interaction is significantly larger compared with that due to the long-range Coulomb interaction for both bound states with their different binding momenta. Thereby, we provide strong support for simplifying extractions of bound-state observables by shutting off any Coulomb interaction if the strong part of the potential is considered only up to first order in the effective range expansion.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2025

Charged Particle Scattering in Renormalizable Pionless Effective Field Theory at Next-to-Leading Order: The $pd$, $dd$, and $p^3\mathrm{He}$ Case

We formulate a renormalizable pionless effective field theory (Pionless EFT) with a non-perturbative treatment of the Coulomb interaction up to next-to-leading order (NLO) for few-nucleon systems. We extract scattering observables for charged clusters by employing two-, three-, and four-body contact interactions and using the stochastic variational method with a Coulomb-corrected harmonic oscillator trap. Our NLO results yield a $pd$ spin-quartet scattering length and effective range of $a_{pd}^{3/2} = 12.76(29)\,\mathrm{fm}$ and $r_{pd}^{3/2} = 1.17(7)\,\mathrm{fm}$; for $dd$ scattering in the spin-quintet channel, we find $a_{dd}^{2} = 6.26(3)\,\mathrm{fm}$ and $r_{dd}^{2} = 1.41(7)\,\mathrm{fm}$; and for $p^3\mathrm{He}$ scattering, the spin-singlet and spin-triplet channels are characterized by $a_{p^3\mathrm{He}}^0 = 11.26(4)\,\mathrm{fm}$, $r_{p^3\mathrm{He}}^0 = 1.65(26)\,\mathrm{fm}$ and $a_{p^3\mathrm{He}}^1 = 9.06(4)\,\mathrm{fm}$, $r_{p^3\mathrm{He}}^1 = 1.36(25)\,\mathrm{fm}$, respectively. Our predictions exhibit mild cutoff dependence and agree well with existing experimental phase shift analyses and potential model calculations. This demonstrates the predictive power of (Pionless EFT) for charged few-nucleon systems.

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arXiv2025

Nuclear responses with neural-network quantum states

We introduce a variational Monte Carlo framework that combines neural-network quantum states with the Lorentz integral transform technique to compute the dynamical properties of self-bound quantum many-body systems in continuous Hilbert spaces. While broadly applicable to various quantum systems, including atoms and molecules, in this initial application we focus on the photoabsorption cross section of light nuclei, where benchmarks against numerically exact techniques are available. Our accurate theoretical predictions are complemented by robust uncertainty quantification, enabling meaningful comparisons with experiments. We demonstrate that a simple nuclear Hamiltonian, based on a leading-order pionless effective field theory expansion and known to accurately reproduce the ground-state energies of nuclei with $A\leq 20$ nucleons also provides a reliable description of the photoabsorption cross section.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2024

Accurate calculation of low energy scattering phase shifts of charged particles in a harmonic oscillator trap

Considering the elastic scattering of two charged particles, we present two methods for numerically solving the generalized Coulomb-corrected BERW formula with high accuracy across the entire energy spectrum. We illustrate these methods using p-alpha scattering, employing a phenomenological p-alpha short-range interaction. Our results reproduce the phase shifts computed with the Numerov method for all l=0 and l=1 channels. We also provide full access to the Python script used to obtain these results, which can be readily applied to a wide range of core-fragment scattering problems in nuclear and atomic physics.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2024

The Relative Abundance of Correlated Spin-zero Nucleon Pairs

We utilize the generalized contact formalism in conjunction with the Woods-Saxon mean-field description of the long-range part of the nuclear wave function to assess the relative prevalence of short-range correlation pairs within atomic nuclei. We validate our approach by fitting experimental charge density results and electron scattering experiments to a very good agreement. Applying our model, we calculate the spin-zero short-range correlations contact ratios. Interestingly, for nuclei with $A>50$, we observe a notable dependence on the neutron-to-proton ratio $N/Z$. Specifically, the probability per nucleon to find neutron-neutron pairs increases, while that of proton-proton pairs decreases, whereas the probability of finding neutron-proton pairs remains relatively constant. To interpret this isospin symmetry breaking effect, we employ a simple model based on generalized Levinger constants, linking it to differences in nuclear proton and neutron radii.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2023

Five-body calculation of $s$-wave $n$-$^4$He scattering at next-to-leading order pionless effective field theory

We present the first five-body calculations of $s$-wave $n$-$^4$He scattering within leading order and next-to-leading order (NLO) pionless effective field theory. Using an harmonic oscillator trap technique and pionless effective field theory fitted to just six well-established experimental parameters, we predict the $s$-wave $n$-$^4$He phase shifts, scattering length $a^{1/2}_{n ^4\text{He}}(\text{NLO})=2.47(4\ \text{num.})~(17\ \text{theor.})~{\rm fm}$, and effective range $r^{1/2}_{n ^4\text{He}}(\text{NLO})=1.384(3\ \text{num.})~(211\ \text{theor.})~{\rm fm}$ in agreement with experiment. The apparent cutoff independence of our results is used to estimate the theoretical errors coming as an integral part of our final results.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2023

The asymptotic behaviour of the many-body coupled cluster amplitudes

We analyze the asymptotic behaviour of the coupled cluster many-body wave-function in the limit of highly excited two- and three-particles states. We find that in this limit the different coupled cluster amplitudes exhibit a recurring behaviour, factorizing into a common asymptotic two- or three-body term. These asymptotic terms depend on the potential and in general are system specific. We also suggest that the knowledge of the asymptotic behaviour can potentially help solving the coupled cluster equations in a more efficient way.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2022

On nuclear short-range correlations and the zero-energy eigenstates of the Schrodinger equation

We present a systematic analysis of the nuclear 2 and 3-body short range correlations, and their relations to the zero-energy eigenstates of the Schrodinger equation. To this end we analyze the doublet and triplet Coupled-Cluster amplitudes in the high momentum limit, and show that they obey universal equations independent of the number of nucleons and their state. Furthermore, we find that these Coupled-Cluster amplitudes coincide with the zero-energy Bloch-Horowitz operator. These results illuminate the relations between the nuclear many-body theory and the generalized contact formalism, introduced to describe the nuclear 2-body short range correlations, and it might also be helpful for general Coupled-Cluster computations as the asymptotic part of the amplitudes is given and shown to be universal.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2022

Spectrum of light nuclei in a finite volume

Lattice quantum chromodynamics calculations of multi-baryon systems with physical quark masses would start a new age of ab initio predictions in nuclear physics. Performed on a finite grid, such calculations demand extrapolation of their finite volume numerical results to free-space physical quantities. Such extraction of the physical information can be carried out fitting effective field theories (EFTs) directly to the finite-volume results or utilizing the Lüscher free-space formula or its generalizations for extrapolating the lattice data to infinite volume. To understand better the effect of periodic boundary conditions on the binding energy of few nucleon systems we explore here light nuclei with physical masses in a finite box and in free space. The stochastic variational method is used to solve the few-body systems. Substantial optimizations of the method are introduced to enable efficient calculations in a periodic box. With the optimized code, we perform accurate calculations of light nuclei $A \le 4$ within leading order pionless EFT. Using Lüscher formula for the two-body system, and its generalization for 3- and 4-body systems, we examine the box effect and explore possible limitations of these formulas for the considered nuclear systems.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2021

Accurate exponential representations for the ground states of the collinear two-electron atomic systems

In the framework of the study of helium-like atomic systems possessing the collinear configuration, we propose a simple method for computing compact but very accurate wave functions describing the relevant $S$ state. It is worth noting that the considered states include the well-known states of the electron-nucleus and electron-electron coalescences as a particular case. The simplicity and compactness imply that the considered wave functions represent a linear combinations of few single exponentials. We have calculated such model wave functions for the ground state of helium and the two-electron ions with nucleus charge $1 \leq Z \leq 5$. The parameters and the accompanying characteristics of these functions are presented in tables for number of exponential from 3 to 6. The accuracy of the resulting wave functions are confirmed graphically. The specific properties of the relevant codes by Wolfram Mathematica are discussed. An example of application of the compact wave functions under consideration is reported.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2021

Implementation of local chiral interactions in the hyperspherical harmonics formalism

With the goal of using chiral interactions at various orders to explore properties of the few-body nuclear systems, we write the recently developed local chiral interactions as spherical irreducible tensors and implement them in the hyperspherical harmonics expansion method. We devote particular attention to three-body forces at next-to-next-to leading order, which play an important role in reproducing experimental data. We check our implementation by benchmarking the ground-state properties of $^3$H, $^3$He and $^4$He against the available Monte Carlo calculations. We then confirm their order-by-order truncation error estimates and further investigate uncertainties in the charge radii obtained by using the precise muonic atom data for single-nucleon radii. Having local chiral Hamiltonians at various orders implemented in our hyperspherical harmonics suites of codes opens up the possibility to test such interactions on other light-nuclei properties, such as electromagnetic reactions.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2020

Extrapolating Lattice QCD Results using Effective Field Theory

Lattice simulations are the only viable way to obtain ab-initio Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) predictions for low energy nuclear physics. These calculations are done, however, in a finite box and therefore extrapolation is needed to get the free space results. Here we use nuclear Effective Field Theory (EFT), designed to provide a low energy description of QCD using baryonic degrees of freedom, to extrapolate the lattice results from finite to infinite volumes. To this end, we fit the EFT to the results calculated with nonphysical high quark masses and solve it with the stochastic variational method in both finite and infinite volumes. Moreover, we perform similar EFT calculations of the physical point and predict the finite-volume effects to be found in future Lattice QCD calculations for atomic nuclei with mass number $A\le4$.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2020

The collinear helium atom and two-electron ions

Collinear configurations of the helium-like atomic systems, relevant, e.g., for the quasifree mechanism of the double photoionization of helium, are studied, parameterized by the single scalar parameter $-1\leq λ\leq1$ ("collinear parameter") where $λ=0$ corresponds to the electron-nucleus ($\textbf{e-n}$) coalescence and $λ=1$ corresponds to the electron-electron ($\textbf{e-e}$) coalescence. In general, $λ>0$ corresponds to the \textbf{n-e-e} configuration, and $λ<0$ to the \textbf{e-n-e} configuration. Simple mathematical representations of the expectation values of the Dirac delta function relevant for the collinear configurations are derived and calculated from fully three-body dynamics without approximation for the two-electron atomic wave functions with nuclear charge $1\leq Z\leq5$. Simple formulas for calculating the expectation values of the kinetic and potential energy operators in collinear configurations are derived. Unusual physical properties of the \textbf{n-e-e} collinear configurations found for certain ranges of $λ$ are presented. The first few angular Fock coefficients for collinear configurations are derived as functions of $λ$. Highly accurate model wave functions describing the ground states of the two-electron atoms with collinear arrangement of the particles are constructed. All results are illustrated by tables and figures.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2020

Universal Short Range Correlations in Bosonic Helium Clusters

Short-range correlations in bosonic Helium clusters, composed of $^4$He atoms, are studied utilizing the generalized contact formalism. The emergence of universal $n$-body short range correlations is formulated and demonstrated numerically via Monte Carlo simulations. The values of the $n$-particle contacts are evaluated for $n\le5$. In the thermodynamic limit, the two-body contact is extracted from available experimental measurements of the static structure factor of liquid $^4$He at high momenta, and found in a good agreement with the value extracted from our calculations.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗