Toward the Ab-initio Description of Medium Mass Nuclei

As ab-initio calculations of atomic nuclei enter the A=40-100 mass range, a great challenge is how to approach the vast majority of open-shell (degenerate) isotopes. We add realistic three-nucleon interactions to the state of the art many-body Green's function theory of closed-shells, and find that physics of neutron driplines is reproduced with very good quality. Further, we introduce the Gorkov formalism to extend ab-initio theory to semi-magic, fully open-shell, isotopes. Proof-of-principle calculations for Ca-44 and Ni-74 confirm that this approach is indeed feasible. Combining these two advances (open-shells and three-nucleon interactions) requires longer, technical, work but it is otherwise within reach.Comment: Contribution to Summary Report of EURISOL Topical and Town Meetings, 15-19 October 2012; missing affiliations added and corrected errors in Tab

Non-empirical pairing energy functional in nuclear matter and finite nuclei

We study 1S0 pairing gaps in neutron and nuclear matter as well as in finite nuclei on the basis of microscopic two-nucleon interactions. Special attention is paid to the consistency of the pairing interaction and normal self-energy contributions. We find that pairing gaps obtained from low-momentum interactions depend only weakly on approximation schemes for the normal self-energy, required in present energy-density functional calculations, while pairing gaps from hard potentials are very sensitive to the effective-mass approximation scheme.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures, published versio

Tensor interaction contributions to single-particle energies

We calculate the contribution of the nucleon-nucleon tensor interaction to single-particle energies with finite-range $G$ matrix potentials and with zero-range Skyrme potentials. The Skx Skyrme parameters including the zero-range tensor terms with strengths calibrated to the finite-range results are refitted to nuclear properties. The fit allows the zero-range proton-neutron tensor interaction as calibrated to the finite-range potential results and that gives the observed change in the single-particle gap $\epsilon$(h$_{11/2}$)-$\epsilon$(g$_{7/2}$) going from $^{114}$Sn to $^{132}$Sn. However, the experimental $\ell$ dependence of the spin-orbit splittings in $^{132}$Sn and $^{208}$Pb is not well described when the tensor is added, due to a change in the radial dependence of the total spin-orbit potential. The gap shift and a good fit to the $\ell$-dependence can be recovered when the like-particle tensor interaction is opposite in sign to that required for the $G$ matrix.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication as Rapid Communication in Physical Review

Chiral three-nucleon forces and pairing in nuclei

We present the first study of pairing in nuclei including three-nucleon forces. We perform systematic calculations of the odd-even mass staggering generated using a microscopic pairing interaction at first order in chiral low-momentum interactions. Significant repulsive contributions from the leading chiral three-nucleon forces are found. Two- and three-nucleon interactions combined account for approximately 70% of the experimental pairing gaps, which leaves room for self-energy and induced interaction effects that are expected to be overall attractive in nuclei.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Isovector splitting of nucleon effective masses, ab-initio benchmarks and extended stability criteria for Skyrme energy functionals

We study the effect of the splitting of neutron and proton effective masses with isospin asymmetry on the properties of the Skyrme energy density functional. We discuss the ability of the latter to predict observable of infinite matter and finite nuclei, paying particular attention to controlling the agreement with ab-initio predictions of the spin-isospin content of the nuclear equation of state, as well as diagnosing the onset of finite size instabilities, which we find to be of critical importance. We show that these various constraints cannot be simultaneously fulfilled by the standard Skyrme force, calling at least for an extension of its P-wave part.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures; Minor changes, references added; Accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.

Breaking and restoring symmetries within the nuclear energy density functional method

We review the notion of symmetry breaking and restoration within the frame of nuclear energy density functional methods. We focus on key differences between wave-function- and energy-functional-based methods. In particular, we point to difficulties to formulate the restoration of symmetries within the energy functional framework. The problems tackled recently in connection with particle-number restoration serve as a baseline to the present discussion. Reaching out to angular-momentum restoration, we identify an exact mathematical property of the energy density $E^{LM}(\vec{R})$ that could be used to constrain energy density functional kernels. Consequently, we suggest possible routes towards a better formulation of symmetry restorations within energy density functional methods.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, contribution to the "Focus issue on Open Problems in Nuclear Structure", Journal of Physics

Towards heavy-mass ab initio nuclear structure: Open-shell Ca, Ni and Sn isotopes from Bogoliubov coupled-cluster theory

Recent developments in nuclear many-body theory enabled the description of open-shell medium-mass nuclei from first principles by exploiting the spontaneous breaking of symmetries within correlation expansion methods. Once combined with systematically improvable inter-nucleon interactions consistently derived from chiral effective field theory, modern ab initio nuclear structure calculations provide a powerful framework to deliver first-principle predictions accompanied with theoretical uncertainties. In this Letter, controlled ab initio Bogoliubov coupled cluster calculations are performed for the first time, targeting the ground-state of all calcium, nickel and tin isotopes up to mass $A\approx150$. While showing good agreement with available experimental data, the shell structure evolution in neutron-rich isotopes and the location of the neutron drip-lines are predicted.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Instabilities in the Nuclear Energy Density Functional

In the field of Energy Density Functionals (EDF) used in nuclear structure and dynamics, one of the unsolved issues is the stability of the functional. Numerical issues aside, some EDFs are unstable with respect to particular perturbations of the nuclear ground-state density. The aim of this contribution is to raise questions about the origin and nature of these instabilities, the techniques used to diagnose and prevent them, and the domain of density functions in which one should expect a nuclear EDF to be stable.Comment: Special issue "Open Problems in Nuclear Structure Theory" of Jour.Phys.G - accepted. 7 pages, 2 figure