Optical Potentials Derived from Nucleon-Nucleon Chiral Potentials at N4LO

Background: Elastic scattering is probably the main event in the interactions of nucleons with nuclei. Even if this process has been extensively studied in the last years, a consistent description, i.e., starting from microscopic two- and many-body forces connected by the same symmetries and principles, is still under development. Purpose: In a previous paper we derived a theoretical optical potential from NN chiral potentials at fourth order (N3LO). In the present work we use NN chiral potentials at fifth order (N4LO), with the purpose to check the convergence and to assess the theoretical errors associated with the truncation of the chiral expansion in the construction of an optical potential. Methods: The optical potential is derived as the first-order term within the spectator expansion of the nonrelativistic multiple scattering theory and adopting the impulse approximation and the optimum factorization approximation. Results: The pp and np Wolfenstein amplitudes and the cross section, analyzing power, and spin rotation of elastic proton scattering from 16O, 12C, and 40Ca nuclei are presented at an incident proton energy of 200 MeV. The results obtained with different versions of chiral potentials at N4LO are compared. Conclusions: Our results indicate that convergence has been reached at N4LO. The agreement with the experimental data is comparable with the agreement obtained in our previous work. We confirm that building an optical potential within chiral perturbation theory is a promising approach for describing elastic proton-nucleus scattering.Comment: Physical Review C, in prin

Microscopic Optical Potentials: recent achievements and future perspectives

Few years ago we started the investigation of microscopic Optical Potentials (OP) in the framework of chiral effective field theories and published our results in a series of manuscripts. Starting from the very first work, where a microscopic OP was introduced following the multiple scattering procedure of Watson, and then followed by more recent works, where the agreement with experimental data and phenomenological approaches was successfully tested, we finally arrived at a description of elastic scattering processes off non-zero spin nuclei. Among our achievements, it is worth mentioning the partial inclusion of three-nucleon forces, and the extension of our OP to antiproton-nucleus elastic scattering. Despite the overall good agreement with empirical data obtained so far, we do believe that several improvements and upgrades of the present approach are still to be achieved. In this short essay we would like to address some of the most relevant achievements and discuss an interesting development that, in our opinion, is needed to further improve microscopic OPs in order to reach in a near future the same level of accuracy of the phenomenological ones.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, Conference proceedings of the 13th International Spring Seminar on Nuclear Physics, Sant'Angelo d'Ischia, May 15-20, 202

Elastic Antiproton-Nucleus Scattering from Chiral Forces

Elastic scattering of antiprotons off He4, C12, and O16,18 is described for the first time with a consistent microscopic approach based on the calculation of an optical potential (OP) describing the antiproton-target interaction. The OP is derived using the recent antiproton-nucleon (p¯N) chiral interaction to calculate the p¯N t matrix, while the target densities are computed with the ab initio no-core shell model using chiral interactions as well. Our results are in good agreement with the existing experimental data and the results computed at different chiral orders of the p¯N interaction display a well-defined convergence pattern

Optical potentials for the rare-isotope beam era

We review recent progress and motivate the need for further developments in nuclear optical potentials that are widely used in the theoretical analysis of nucleon elastic scattering and reaction cross sections. In regions of the nuclear chart away from stability, which represent a frontier in nuclear science over the coming decade and which will be probed at new rare-isotope beam facilities worldwide, there is a targeted need to quantify and reduce theoretical reaction model uncertainties, especially with respect to nuclear optical potentials. We first describe the primary physics motivations for an improved description of nuclear reactions involving short-lived isotopes, focusing on its benefits for fundamental science discoveries and applications to medicine, energy, and security. We then outline the various methods in use today to build optical potentials starting from phenomenological, microscopic, and ab initio methods, highlighting in particular the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. We then discuss publicly-available tools and resources facilitating the propagation of recent progresses in the field to practitioners. Finally, we provide a set of open challenges and recommendations for the field to advance the fundamental science goals of nuclear reaction studies in the rare-isotope beam era.Comment: This paper is the outcome of the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams Theory Alliance (FRIB - TA) topical program "Optical Potentials in Nuclear Physics" held in March 2022 at FRIB. Its content is non-exhaustive, was chosen by the participants and reflects their efforts related to optical potential

Proton inelastic scattering reveals deformation in He-8

A measurement of proton inelastic scattering of $^8$He at $8.25A$~MeV at TRIUMF shows a resonance at 3.54(6)~MeV with a width of 0.89(11)~MeV. The energy of the state is in good agreement with coupled cluster and no-core shell model with continuum calculations, with the latter successfully describing the measured resonance width as well. Its differential cross section analyzed with phenomenological collective excitation form factor and microscopic coupled reaction channels framework consistently reveals a large deformation parameter $\beta_2$ = 0.40(3), consistent with no-core shell model predictions of a large neutron deformation. This deformed double-closed shell at the neutron drip-line opens a new paradigm.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in Physics Letters

Relativistic Descriptions of Final-State Interactions in Charged-Current Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering at ArgoNeuT Kinematics

The analysis of the recent charged-current neutrino-nucleus scattering cross sections measured by the ArgoNeuT Collaboration requires relativistic theoretical descriptions also accounting for the role of final-state interactions. In this work, we evaluate differential neutrino-nucleus cross sections with the relativistic Green’s function model, where final-state interactions are described in the inclusive scattering consistently with the exclusive scattering using a complex optical potential. The sensitivity to the parametrization adopted for the phenomenological optical potential is discussed. The predictions of the relativistic Green’s function model are compared with the results of different descriptions of final-state interactions