218 research outputs found
Can Modern Nuclear Hamiltonians Tolerate a Bound Tetraneutron?
I show that it does not seem possible to change modern nuclear Hamiltonians
to bind a tetraneutron without destroying many other successful predictions of
those Hamiltonians. This means that, should a recent experimental claim of a
bound tetraneutron be confirmed, our understanding of nuclear forces will have
to be significantly changed. I also point out some errors in previous
theoretical studies of this problem.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures Revision corrects a pronou
Cold neutrons trapped in external fields
The properties of inhomogeneous neutron matter are crucial to the physics of
neutron-rich nuclei and the crust of neutron stars. Advances in computational
techniques now allow us to accurately determine the binding energies and
densities of many neutrons interacting via realistic microscopic interactions
and confined in external fields. We perform calculations for different external
fields and across several shells to place important constraints on
inhomogeneous neutron matter, and hence the large isospin limit of the nuclear
energy density functionals that are used to predict properties of heavy nuclei
and neutron star crusts. We find important differences between microscopic
calculations and current density functionals; in particular the isovector
gradient terms are significantly more repulsive than in traditional models, and
the spin-orbit and pairing forces are comparatively weaker.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, final version. Additional material reference
added in the published versio
Quantum Monte Carlo calculations of electroweak transition matrix elements in A = 6,7 nuclei
Green's function Monte Carlo calculations of magnetic dipole, electric
quadrupole, Fermi, and Gamow-Teller transition matrix elements are reported for
A=6,7 nuclei. The matrix elements are extrapolated from mixed estimates that
bracket the relevant electroweak operator between variational Monte Carlo and
GFMC propagated wave functions. Because they are off-diagonal terms, two mixed
estimates are required for each transition, with a VMC initial (final) state
paired with a GFMC final (initial) state. The realistic Argonne v18 two-nucleon
and Illinois-2 three-nucleon interactions are used to generate the nuclear
states. In most cases we find good agreement with experimental data.Comment: v2: minor corrections to text and figure
Quantum Monte Carlo calculations of excited states in A = 6--8 nuclei
A variational Monte Carlo method is used to generate sets of orthogonal trial
functions, Psi_T(J^pi,T), for given quantum numbers in various light p-shell
nuclei. These Psi_T are then used as input to Green's function Monte Carlo
calculations of first, second, and higher excited (J^pi,T) states. Realistic
two- and three-nucleon interactions are used. We find that if the physical
excited state is reasonably narrow, the GFMC energy converges to a stable
result. With the combined Argonne v_18 two-nucleon and Illinois-2 three-nucleon
interactions, the results for many second and higher states in A = 6--8 nuclei
are close to the experimental values.Comment: Revised version with minor changes as accepted by Phys. Rev. C. 11
page
Tensor Forces and the Ground-State Structure of Nuclei
Two-nucleon momentum distributions are calculated for the ground states of
nuclei with mass number , using variational Monte Carlo wave functions
derived from a realistic Hamiltonian with two- and three-nucleon potentials.
The momentum distribution of pairs is found to be much larger than that of
pairs for values of the relative momentum in the range (300--600) MeV/c
and vanishing total momentum. This order of magnitude difference is seen in all
nuclei considered and has a universal character originating from the tensor
components present in any realistic nucleon-nucleon potential. The correlations
induced by the tensor force strongly influence the structure of pairs,
which are predominantly in deuteron-like states, while they are ineffective for
pairs, which are mostly in S states. These features should be
easily observable in two-nucleon knock-out processes, such as and .Comment: 4 pages including 3 figure
Dependence of two-nucleon momentum densities on total pair momentum
Two-nucleon momentum distributions are calculated for the ground states of
3He and 4He as a function of the nucleons' relative and total momenta. We use
variational Monte Carlo wave functions derived from a realistic Hamiltonian
with two- and three-nucleon potentials. The momentum distribution of pp pairs
is found to be much smaller than that of pn pairs for values of the relative
momentum in the range (300--500) MeV/c and vanishing total momentum. However,
as the total momentum increases to 400 MeV/c, the ratio of pp to pn pairs in
this relative momentum range grows and approaches the limit 1/2 for 3He and 1/4
for 4He, corresponding to the ratio of pp to pn pairs in these nuclei. This
behavior should be easily observable in two-nucleon knock-out processes, such
as A(e,e'pN).Comment: 3 pages, 3 figure
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