Symplectic No-core Shell-model Approach to Intermediate-mass Nuclei

We present a microscopic description of nuclei in an intermediate-mass region, including the proximity to the proton drip line, based on a no-core shell model with a schematic many-nucleon long-range interaction with no parameter adjustments. The outcome confirms the essential role played by the symplectic symmetry to inform the interaction and the winnowing of shell-model spaces. We show that it is imperative that model spaces be expanded well beyond the current limits up through fifteen major shells to accommodate particle excitations that appear critical to highly-deformed spatial structures and the convergence of associated observables.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure

Meta-analysis of glioblastoma multiforme versus anaplastic astrocytoma identifies robust gene markers

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Anaplastic astrocytoma (AA) and its more aggressive counterpart, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), are the most common intrinsic brain tumors in adults and are almost universally fatal. A deeper understanding of the molecular relationship of these tumor types is necessary to derive insights into the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of gliomas. Although genomewide profiling of expression levels with microarrays can be used to identify differentially expressed genes between these tumor types, comparative studies so far have resulted in gene lists that show little overlap.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>To achieve a more accurate and stable list of the differentially expressed genes and pathways between primary GBM and AA, we performed a meta-analysis using publicly available genome-scale mRNA data sets. There were four data sets with sufficiently large sample sizes of both GBMs and AAs, all of which coincidentally used human U133 platforms from Affymetrix, allowing for easier and more precise integration of data. After scoring genes and pathways within each data set, we combined the statistics across studies using the nonparametric rank sum method to identify the features that differentiate GBMs and AAs. We found >900 statistically significant probe sets after correction for multiple testing from the >22,000 tested. We also used the rank sum approach to select >20 significant Biocarta pathways after correction for multiple testing out of >175 pathways examined. The most significant pathway was the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) pathway. Our analysis suggests that many of the most statistically significant genes work together in a <it>HIF1A</it>/<it>VEGF</it>-regulated network to increase angiogenesis and invasion in GBM when compared to AA.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We have performed a meta-analysis of genome-scale mRNA expression data for 289 human malignant gliomas and have identified a list of >900 probe sets and >20 pathways that are significantly different between GBM and AA. These feature lists could be utilized to aid in diagnosis, prognosis, and grade reduction of high-grade gliomas and to identify genes that were not previously suspected of playing an important role in glioma biology. More generally, this approach suggests that combined analysis of existing data sets can reveal new insights and that the large amount of publicly available cancer data sets should be further utilized in a similar manner.</p

Emergence of cluster structures and collectivity within a no-core shell-model framework

An innovative symmetry-guided concept, which capitalizes on partial as well as exact symmetries that underpin the structure of nuclei, is discussed. Within this framework, ab initio applications of the theory to light nuclei reveal the origin of collective modes and the emergence a simple orderly pattern from first principles. This provides a strategy for determining the nature of bound states of nuclei in terms of a relatively small fraction of the complete shell-model space, which, in turn, can be used to explore ultra-large model spaces for a description of alpha-cluster and highly deformed structures together with the associated rotations. We find that by using only a fraction of the model space extended far beyond current no-core shell-model limits and a long-range interaction that respects the symmetries in play, the outcome reproduces characteristic features of the low-lying 0+ states in 12 C (including the elusive Hoyle state and its 2+ excitation) and agrees with ab initio results in smaller spaces. This is achieved by selecting those particle configurations and components of the interaction found to be foremost responsible for the primary physics governing clustering phenomena and large spatial deformation in the ground-state and Hoyle-state rotational bands of 12 C. For these states, we offer a novel perspective emerging out of no-core shell-model considerations, including a discussion of associated nuclear deformation, matter radii, and density distribution. The framework we find is also extensible to negative-parity states (e.g., the 3-1 state in 12C) and beyond, namely, to the low-lying 0+ states of 8Be as well as the ground-state rotational band of Ne, Mg, and Si isotopes. The findings inform key features of the nuclear interaction and point to a new insight into the formation of highly-organized simple patterns in nuclear dynamics

Dominant Modes in Light Nuclei - Ab Initio View of Emergent Symmetries

An innovative symmetry-guided concept is discussed with a focus on emergent symmetry patterns in complex nuclei. In particular, the ab initio symmetry-adapted no-core shell model (SA-NCSM), which capitalizes on exact as well as partial symmetries that underpin the structure of nuclei, provides remarkable insight into how simple symmetry patterns emerge in the many-body nuclear dynamics from first principles. This ab initio view is complemented by a fully microscopic no-core symplectic shell-model framework (NCSpM), which, in turn, informs key features of the primary physics responsible for the emergent phenomena of large deformation and alpha-cluster substructures in studies of the challenging Hoyle state in Carbon-12 and enhanced collectivity in intermediate-mass nuclei. Furthermore, by recognizing that deformed configurations often dominate the low-energy regime, the SA-NCSM provides a strategy for determining the nature of bound states of nuclei in terms of a relatively small subspace of the symmetry-reorganized complete model space, which opens new domains of nuclei for ab initio investigations, namely, the intermediate-mass region, including isotopes of Ne, Mg, and Si

HPC-enabled nuclear structure studies-description and applications of the symmetry-adapted no-core shell model

By exploiting symmetries that enable the accounting of vital collective correlations in nuclei, we achieve significantly reduced dimensions for equivalent ultra-large model spaces, and hence resolve the scale explosion problem in nuclear structure calculations, i.e, the explosive growth in computational resource demands with increasing number of particles and size of the spaces in which they reside. As a result, we provide-with the help of High Performance Computing (HPC) resources-first solutions for selected benchmark calculations with remarkable findings of large-deformation and low-spin dominance in low-lying nuclear states. In the framework of a complementary symmetry-adapted study, one is able, facilitated by symmetry-preserving pieces of the inter-nucleon interaction, to accommodate unprecedented shell-model spaces critical to capture the physics governing the Hoyle state in 12C, thereby addressing a 60-year-old puzzle on the emergence of cluster substructures within a no-core shell model framework. All of these findings underline the key role of symmetries in nuclear structure studies

Emergent symmetries in atomic nuclei from first principles

An innovative symmetry-guided approach and its applications to light and intermediate-mass nuclei is discussed. This approach, with Sp(3, R) the underpinning group, is based on our recent remarkable finding, namely, we have identified the symplectic Sp(3,R) as an approximate symmetry for low-energy nuclear dynamics. This study presents the results of two complementary studies, one that utilizes realistic nucleon-nucleon interactions and unveils symmetries inherent to nuclear dynamics from first principles (or ab initio), and another study, which selects important components of the nuclear interaction to explain the primary physics responsible for emergent phenomena, such as enhanced collectivity and alpha clusters. In particular, within this symmetry-guided framework, ab initio applications of the theory to light nuclei reveal the emergence of a simple orderly pattern from first principles. This provides a strategy for determining the nature of bound states of nuclei in terms of a relatively small fraction of the complete shell-model space, which, in turn, can be used to explore ultra-large model spaces for a description of alpha-cluster and highly deformed structures together with associated rotations. We find that by using only a fraction of the model space extended far beyond current no-core shell-model limits and a long-range interaction that respects the symmetries in play, the outcome reproduces characteristic features of the low-lying 0+ states in 12C (including the elusive Hoyle state of importance to astrophysics) and agrees with ab initio results in smaller spaces. For these states, we offer a novel perspective emerging out of no-core shell-model considerations, including a discussion of associated nuclear deformation, matter radii, and density distribution. The framework we find is also extensible beyond 12C, namely, to the low-lying 0+ states of 8Be as well as the ground-state rotational band of Ne, Mg, and Si isotopes

Symmetry-Adapted Ab Initio Open Core Shell Model Theory

By using only a fraction of the model space, we gain further insight - within a symmetry-guided no-core shell model framework - into the many-body nuclear dynamics that gives rise to important single-particle configurations together with correlated highly-deformed and alpha-cluster structures. We show results of the novel ab initio symmetry-adapted no-core shell model for large-scale nuclear structure computations. In addition, we use the symmetry patterns unveiled in these results to explore ultra-large model spaces. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd