751 research outputs found

    Unified ab initio approaches to nuclear structure and reactions

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    The description of nuclei starting from the constituent nucleons and the realistic interactions among them has been a long-standing goal in nuclear physics. In addition to the complex nature of the nuclear forces, with two-, three- and possibly higher many-nucleon components, one faces the quantum-mechanical many-nucleon problem governed by an interplay between bound and continuum states. In recent years, significant progress has been made in ab initio nuclear structure and reaction calculations based on input from QCD-employing Hamiltonians constructed within chiral effective field theory. After a brief overview of the field, we focus on ab initio many-body approaches - built upon the No-Core Shell Model - that are capable of simultaneously describing both bound and scattering nuclear states, and present results for resonances in light nuclei, reactions important for astrophysics and fusion research. In particular, we review recent calculations of resonances in the 6^6He halo nucleus, of five- and six-nucleon scattering, and an investigation of the role of chiral three-nucleon interactions in the structure of 9^9Be. Further, we discuss applications to the 7^7Be(p,Îł)8(p,\gamma)^8B radiative capture. Finally, we highlight our efforts to describe transfer reactions including the 3^3H(d,n)4(d,n)^4He fusion.Comment: Contribution to the Special Physica Scripta Edition - 40 year anniversary - Nobel Prize '75, 71 pages, 29 figure

    Accelerating many-nucleon basis generation for high performance computing enabled ab initio nuclear structure studies

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    We present the problem of generating a many-nucleon basis in SU(3) -scheme for ab initio nuclear structure calculations in a symmetry-adapted no-core shell model framework. We first discuss and analyze the basis construction algorithm whose baseline implementation quickly becomes a significant bottleneck for large model spaces and heavier nuclei. The outcomes of this analysis are utilized to propose a new scalable version of the algorithm. Its performance is consequently studied empirically using the Blue Waters supercomputer. The measurements show significant acceleration achieved with over two orders of magnitude speedups realized for larger model spaces

    Large-scale exact diagonalizations reveal low-momentum scales of nuclei

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    Ab initio methods aim to solve the nuclear many-body problem with controlled approximations. Virtually exact numerical solutions for realistic interactions can only be obtained for certain special cases such as few-nucleon systems. Here we extend the reach of exact diagonalization methods to handle model spaces with dimension exceeding 101010^{10} on a single compute node. This allows us to perform no-core shell model (NCSM) calculations for 6Li in model spaces up to Nmax=22N_\mathrm{max} = 22 and to reveal the 4He+d halo structure of this nucleus. Still, the use of a finite harmonic-oscillator basis implies truncations in both infrared (IR) and ultraviolet (UV) length scales. These truncations impose finite-size corrections on observables computed in this basis. We perform IR extrapolations of energies and radii computed in the NCSM and with the coupled-cluster method at several fixed UV cutoffs. It is shown that this strategy enables information gain also from data that is not fully UV converged. IR extrapolations improve the accuracy of relevant bound-state observables for a range of UV cutoffs, thus making them profitable tools. We relate the momentum scale that governs the exponential IR convergence to the threshold energy for the first open decay channel. Using large-scale NCSM calculations we numerically verify this small-momentum scale of finite nuclei.Comment: Minor revisions.Accepted for publication in Physical Review

    Perspectives of Nuclear Physics in Europe: NuPECC Long Range Plan 2010

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    The goal of this European Science Foundation Forward Look into the future of Nuclear Physics is to bring together the entire Nuclear Physics community in Europe to formulate a coherent plan of the best way to develop the field in the coming decade and beyond.<p></p> The primary aim of Nuclear Physics is to understand the origin, evolution, structure and phases of strongly interacting matter, which constitutes nearly 100% of the visible matter in the universe. This is an immensely important and challenging task that requires the concerted effort of scientists working in both theory and experiment, funding agencies, politicians and the public.<p></p> Nuclear Physics projects are often “big science”, which implies large investments and long lead times. They need careful forward planning and strong support from policy makers. This Forward Look provides an excellent tool to achieve this. It represents the outcome of detailed scrutiny by Europe’s leading experts and will help focus the views of the scientific community on the most promising directions in the field and create the basis for funding agencies to provide adequate support.<p></p> The current NuPECC Long Range Plan 2010 “Perspectives of Nuclear Physics in Europe” resulted from consultation with close to 6 000 scientists and engineers over a period of approximately one year. Its detailed recommendations are presented on the following pages. For the interested public, a short summary brochure has been produced to accompany the Forward Look.<p></p&gt
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