arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to S. Ragnar Stroberg.
I provide and introductory overview of the field of nuclear structure, with a focus on physical concepts. I describe some basic nuclear structure observables, followed by a qualitative description of nuclear forces. I then outline some nuclear structure models which are most widely used to interpret the experimental data in terms of interacting protons and neutrons.
This white paper is the result of a collaboration by those that attended a workshop at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), organized by the FRIB Theory Alliance (FRIB-TA), on Theoretical Justifications and Motivations for Early High-Profile FRIB Experiments. It covers a wide range of topics related to the science that will be explored at FRIB. After a brief introduction, the sections address: (II) Overview of theoretical methods, (III) Experimental capabilities, (IV) Structure, (V) Near-threshold Physics, (VI) Reaction mechanisms, (VII) Nuclear equations of state, (VIII) Nuclear astrophysics, (IX) Fundamental symmetries, and (X) Experimental design and uncertainty quantification.
Heavy atomic nuclei have an excess of neutrons over protons, which leads to the formation of a neutron skin whose thickness is sensitive to details of the nuclear force. This links atomic nuclei to properties of neutron stars, thereby relating objects that differ in size by orders of magnitude. The nucleus ${}^{208}$Pb is of particular interest because it exhibits a simple structure and is experimentally accessible. However, computing such a heavy nucleus has been out of reach for ab initio theory. By combining advances in quantum many-body methods, statistical tools, and emulator technology, we make quantitative predictions for the properties of ${}^{208}$Pb starting from nuclear forces that are consistent with symmetries of low-energy quantum chromodynamics. We explore $10^9$ different nuclear-force parameterisations via history matching, confront them with data in select light nuclei, and arrive at an importance-weighted ensemble of interactions. We accurately reproduce bulk properties of ${}^{208}$Pb and determine the neutron skin thickness, which is smaller and more precise than a recent extraction from parity-violating electron scattering but in agreement with other experimental probes. This work demonstrates how realistic two- and three-nucleon forces act in a heavy nucleus and allows us to make quantitative predictions across the nuclear landscape.
The nuclear shell model has been perhaps the most important conceptual and computational paradigm for the understanding of the structure of atomic nuclei. While the shell model has been predominantly used in a phenomenological context, there have been efforts stretching back over a half century to derive shell model parameters based on a realistic interaction between nucleons. More recently, several ab initio many-body methods---in particular many-body perturbation theory, the no-core shell model, the in-medium similarity renormalization group, and coupled cluster theory---have developed the capability to provide effective shell model Hamiltonians. We provide an update on the status of these methods and investigate the connections between them and potential strengths and weaknesses, with a particular focus on the in-medium similarity renormalization group approach. Three-body forces are demonstrated to be an important ingredient in understanding the modifications needed in phenomenological treatments. We then review some applications of these methods to comparisons with recent experimental measurements, and conclude with some remaining challenges in ab initio shell model theory.