arXiv subjects

P. Navrátil

Publications and source records attributed to P. Navrátil.

30 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Open $sd$-shell nuclei from first principles

We extend the ab initio coupled-cluster effective interaction (CCEI) method to deformed open-shell nuclei with protons and neutrons in the valence space, and compute binding energies and excited states of isotopes of neon and magnesium. We employ a nucleon-nucleon and three-nucleon interaction from chiral effective field theory evolved to a lower cutoff via a similarity renormalization group transformation. We find good agreement with experiment for binding energies and spectra, while charge radii of neon isotopes are underestimated. For the deformed nuclei $^{20}$Ne and $^{24}$Mg we reproduce rotational bands and electric quadrupole transitions within uncertainties estimated from an effective field theory for deformed nuclei, thereby demonstrating that collective phenomena in $sd$-shell nuclei emerge from complex ab initio calculations.

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arXiv2015

Chiral three-nucleon forces and the evolution of correlations along the oxygen isotopic chain

The impact of three-nucleon forces (3NFs) along the oxygen chain is investigated for the spectral distribution for attachment and removal of a nucleon, spectroscopic factors and matter radii. We employ self-consistent Green's function (SCGF) theory which allows a comprehensive calculation of the single particle spectral function. For the closed subshell isotopes, $^{14}$O, $^{16}$O, $^{22}$O, $^{24}$O and $^{28}$O, we perform calculations with the Dyson-ADC(3) method. The remaining open shell isotopes are studied using the newly developed Gorkov-SCGF formalism up to second order. We produce plots for the full-fledged spectral distributions. The spectroscopic factors for the dominant quasiparticle peaks are found to depend very little on the leading order (NNLO) chiral 3NFs. The latters have small impact on the calculated matter radii, which, however are consistently obtained smaller than experiment. Similarly, single particle spectra tend to be diluted with respect to experiment. This effect might hinder, to some extent, the onset of correlations and screen the quenching of calculated spectroscopic factors. The most important effects of 3NFs is thus the fine tuning of the energies for the dominant quasiparticle states, which govern the shell evolution and the position of driplines. Although present chiral NNLO 3NFs interactions do reproduce the binding energies correctly in this mass region, the details of the nuclear wave function remain at odd with the experiment showing too small radii and a too dilute single particle spectrum, similar to what already pointed out for larger masses. This suggests a lack of repulsion in the present model of NN+3N interactions which is mildly apparent already for masses in the A=14--28 range.

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arXiv2015

Probing the N = 32 shell closure below the magic proton number Z = 20: Mass measurements of the exotic isotopes 52,53K

The recently confirmed neutron-shell closure at N = 32 has been investigated for the first time below the magic proton number Z = 20 with mass measurements of the exotic isotopes 52,53K, the latter being the shortest-lived nuclide investigated at the online mass spectrometer ISOLTRAP. The resulting two-neutron separation energies reveal a 3 MeV shell gap at N = 32, slightly lower than for 52Ca, highlighting the doubly-magic nature of this nuclide. Skyrme-Hartree-Fock-Boguliubov and ab initio Gorkov-Green function calculations are challenged by the new measurements but reproduce qualitatively the observed shell effect.

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arXiv2015

Accurate nuclear radii and binding energies from a chiral interaction

With the goal of developing predictive ab-initio capability for light and medium-mass nuclei, two-nucleon and three-nucleon forces from chiral effective field theory are optimized simultaneously to low-energy nucleon-nucleon scattering data, as well as binding energies and radii of few-nucleon systems and selected isotopes of carbon and oxygen. Coupled-cluster calculations based on this interaction, named NNLO$_{\rm sat}$, yield accurate binding energies and radii of nuclei up to $^{40}$Ca, and are consistent with the empirical saturation point of symmetric nuclear matter. In addition, the low-lying collective $J^π=3^-$ states in $^{16}$O and $^{40}$Ca are described accurately, while spectra for selected $p$- and $sd$-shell nuclei are in reasonable agreement with experiment.

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arXiv2013

Leading chiral three-nucleon forces along isotope chains in the calcium region

Three-nucleon forces (3NFs), and in particular terms of the Fujita-Miyazawa type, strongly influence the structure of neutron-rich exotic isotopes. Ab-initio calculations have shown that chiral two- and three-nucleon interactions correctly reproduce binding energy systematics and neutron driplines of oxygen and nearby isotopes. Exploiting the novel self-consistent Gorkov-Green's function approach, we present the first investigation of Ar, K, Ca, Sc and Ti isotopic chains. Leading chiral 3N interactions are mandatory to reproduce the trend of binding energies throughout these chains and to obtain a good description of two-neutron separation energies. At the same time, nuclei in this mass region are systematically overbound by about 40 MeV and the $N=20$ magic gap is significantly overestimated. We conclude that ab-initio many-body calculations of mid-mass isotopic chains challenge modern theories of elementary nuclear interactions.

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arXiv2013

No-Core Shell Model for Nuclear Systems with Strangeness

We report on a novel ab initio approach for nuclear few- and many-body systems with strangeness. Recently, we developed a relevant no-core shell model technique which we successfully applied in first calculations of lightest $Λ$ hypernuclei. The use of a translationally invariant finite harmonic oscillator basis allows us to employ large model spaces, compared to traditional shell model calculations, and use realistic nucleon-nucleon and nucleon-hyperon interactions (such as those derived from EFT). We discuss formal aspects of the methodology, show first demonstrative results for ${}_Λ^3$H, ${}_Λ^4$H and ${}^4_Λ$He, and give outlook.

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arXiv2013

Three-cluster dynamics within an ab initio framework

We introduce a fully antisymmetrized treatment of three-cluster dynamics within the ab initio framework of the no-core shell model/resonating-group method (NCSM/RGM). Energy-independent non-local interactions among the three nuclear fragments are obtained from realistic nucleon-nucleon interactions and consistent ab initio many-body wave functions of the clusters. The three-cluster Schrödinger equation is solved with bound-state boundary conditions by means of the hyperspherical-harmonic method on a Lagrange mesh. We discuss the formalism in detail and give algebraic expressions for systems of two single nucleons plus a nucleus. Using a soft similarity-renormalization-group evolved chiral nucleon-nucleon potential, we apply the method to an $^4$He+$n+n$ description of $^6$He and compare the results to experiment and to a six-body diagonalization of the Hamiltonian performed within the harmonic-oscillator expansions of the NCSM. Differences between the two calculations provide a measure of core ($^4$He) polarization effects.

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arXiv2013

Extrapolation uncertainties in the importance-truncated No-Core Shell Model

We report on Li-6 calculations performed with the IT-NCSM and compare them to full NCSM calculations. We employ the Entem and Machleidt chiral two-body N3LO interaction (regulated at 500 MeV/c), which has been modified to a phase-shift equivalent potential by the similarity renormalization group (SRG) procedure. We investigate the dependence of the procedure on the technique employed to extrapolate to the complete Nmax space, the harmonic oscillator energy, and investigate the dependence on the momentum-decoupling scale (λ) used in the SRG. We also investigate the use of one or several reference states from which the truncated basis is constructed. We find that the uncertainties generated from various extrapolating functions used to extrapolate to the complete Nmax space increase as Nmax increases. The extrapolation uncertainties range from a few keV for the smallest Nmax spaces to about 50 keV for the largest Nmax spaces. We note that the difference between extrapolated IT-NCSM and NCSM ground-state energies, however, can be as large as a 100-250 keV depending on the chosen harmonic oscillator energy. We also present the extrapolation of IT-NCSM results to Nmax infinity and compare these to similarly extrapolated full NCSM results.

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arXiv2012

Microscopic two-nucleon overlaps and knockout reactions from $^{12}$C

The nuclear structure dependence of direct reactions that remove a pair of like or unlike nucleons from a fast $^{12}$C projectile beam are considered. Specifically, we study the differences in the two-nucleon correlations present and the predicted removal cross sections when using $p$-shell shell-model and multi-$\hbarω$ no-core shell-model (NCSM) descriptions of the two-nucleon overlaps for the transitions to the mass $A$=10 projectile residues. The NCSM calculations use modern chiral two-nucleon and three-nucleon (NN+3N) interactions. The $np$-removal cross sections to low-lying $T$=0, $^{10}$B final states are enhanced when using the NCSM two-nucleon amplitudes. The calculated absolute and relative partial cross sections to the low energy $^{10}$B final states show a significant sensitivity to the interactions used, suggesting that assessments of the overlap functions for these transitions and confirmations of their structure could be made using final-state-exclusive measurements of the $np$-removal cross sections and the associated momentum distributions of the forward travelling projectile-like residues.

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arXiv2009

Electric Dipole Polarizabilities of Hydrogen and Helium Isotopes

The electric dipole polarizabilities of $^3$H, $^3$He, and $^4$He are calculated directly using the Schrödinger equation with the latest generation of two- and three-nucleon interactions. These polarizabilities are necessary in order to obtain accurate nuclear-polarization corrections for transitions involving S-waves in one- and two-electron atoms. Our results are compared to previous results, and it is shown that direct calculations of the electric polarizability of $^4$He using modern nuclear potentials are smaller than published values calculated using experimental photoabsorption data. The status of this topic is assessed in the context of precise measurements of transitions in one- and two-electron atoms.

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arXiv2009

Charge radii and electromagnetic moments of Li and Be isotopes from the ab initio no-core shell model

Recently, charge radii and ground-state electromagnetic moments of Li and Be isotopes were measured precisely. We have performed large-scale ab initio no-core shell model calculations for these isotopes using high-precision nucleon-nucleon potentials. The isotopic trends of our computed charge radii and quadrupole and magnetic-dipole moments are in good agreement with experimental results with the exception of the 11Li charge radius. The magnetic moments are in particular well described, whereas the absolute magnitudes of the quadrupole moments are about 10% too small. The small magnitude of the 6Li quadrupole moment is reproduced, and with the CD-Bonn NN potential, also its correct sign.

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arXiv2008

Converging sequences in the ab initio no-core shell model

We demonstrate the existence of multiple converging sequences in the ab initio no-core shell model. By examining the underlying theory of effective operators, we expose the physical foundations for the alternative pathways to convergence. This leads us to propose a revised strategy for evaluating effective interactions for $A$-body calculations in restricted model spaces. We suggest that this strategy is particularly useful for applications to nuclear processes in which states of both parities are used simultaneously, such as for transition rates. We demonstrate the utility of our strategy with large-scale calculations in light nuclei.

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