Universal trend of charge radii of even-even Ca-Zn nuclei
Radii of nuclear charge distributions carry information about the strong and electromagnetic forces acting inside the atomic nucleus. While the global behavior of nuclear charge radii is governed by the bulk properties of nuclear matter, their local trends are affected by quantum motion of proton and neutron nuclear constituents. The measured differential charge radii $\delta\langle r^2_c\rangle$ between neutron numbers $N=28$ and $N=40$ exhibit a universal pattern as a function of $n=N-28$ that is independent of the atomic number. Here we analyze this remarkable behavior in even-even nuclei from calcium to zinc using two state-of-the-art theories based on quantified nuclear interactions: t…
Computing the dipole polarizability of 48Ca with increased precision
We compute the electric dipole polarizability of 48Ca with an increased precision by including more correlations than in previous studies. Employing the coupled-cluster method we go beyond singles and doubles excitations and include leading-order three-particle-three-hole (3p-3h) excitations for the ground state, excited states, and the similarity transformed operator. We study electromagnetic sum rules, such as the bremsstrahlung sum rule m_0 and the polarizability sum rule alpha_D using interactions from chiral effective field theory. To gauge the quality of our coupled-cluster approximations we perform several benchmarks with the effective interaction hyperspherical harmonics approach in…
Computational nuclear quantum many-body problem: The UNEDF project
The UNEDF project was a large-scale collaborative effort that applied high-performance computing to the nuclear quantum many-body problem. The primary focus of the project was on constructing, validating, and applying an optimized nuclear energy density functional, which entailed a wide range of pioneering developments in microscopic nuclear structure and reactions, algorithms, high-performance computing, and uncertainty quantification. UNEDF demonstrated that close associations among nuclear physicists, mathematicians, and computer scientists can lead to novel physics outcomes built on algorithmic innovations and computational developments. This review showcases a wide range of UNEDF scien…
Coulomb sum rule for He4 and O16 from coupled-cluster theory
We demonstrate the capability of coupled-cluster theory to compute the Coulomb sum rule for the $^{4}\mathrm{He}$ and $^{16}\mathrm{O}$ nuclei using interactions from chiral effective field theory. We perform several checks, including a few-body benchmark for $^{4}\mathrm{He}$. We provide an analysis of the center-of-mass contaminations, which we are able to safely remove. We then compare with other theoretical results and experimental data available in the literature, obtaining a fair agreement. This is a first and necessary step towards initiating a program for computing neutrino-nucleus interactions from first principles in coupled-cluster theory and supporting the experimental long-base…
Charge radii of exotic potassium isotopes challenge nuclear theory and the magic character of N = 32
Nuclear charge radii are sensitive probes of different aspects of the nucleon-nucleon interaction and the bulk properties of nuclear matter; thus, they provide a stringent test and challenge for nuclear theory. The calcium region has been of particular interest, as experimental evidence has suggested a new magic number at $N = 32$ [1-3], while the unexpectedly large increases in the charge radii [4,5] open new questions about the evolution of nuclear size in neutron-rich systems. By combining the collinear resonance ionization spectroscopy method with $\beta$-decay detection, we were able to extend the charge radii measurement of potassium ($Z =19$) isotopes up to the exotic $^{52}$K ($t_{1…
Ab Initio Computation of the Longitudinal Response Function in Ca40
We present a consistent ab initio computation of the longitudinal response function ${R}_{L}$ in $^{40}\mathrm{Ca}$ using the coupled-cluster and Lorentz integral transform methods starting from chiral nucleon-nucleon and three-nucleon interactions. We validate our approach by comparing our results for ${R}_{L}$ in $^{4}\mathrm{He}$ and the Coulomb sum rule in $^{40}\mathrm{Ca}$ against experimental data and other calculations. For ${R}_{L}$ in $^{40}\mathrm{Ca}$ we obtain a very good agreement with experiment in the quasielastic peak up to intermediate momentum transfers, and we find that final state interactions are essential for an accurate description of the data. This work presents a m…
Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering on 40Ar from first principles
Coherent elastic neutrino scattering on the 40Ar nucleus is computed with coupled-cluster theory based on nuclear Hamiltonians inspired by effective field theories of quantum chromodynamics. Our approach is validated by calculating the charge form factor and comparing it to data from electron scattering. We make predictions for the weak form factor, the neutron radius, and the neutron skin, and estimate systematic uncertainties. The neutron-skin thickness of 40Ar40 is consistent with results from density functional theory. Precision measurements from coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering could potentially be used to extract these observables and help to constrain nuclear models.
Unexpectedly large charge radii of neutron-rich calcium isotopes
Despite being a complex many-body system, the atomic nucleus exhibits simple structures for certain "magic" numbers of protons and neutrons. The calcium chain in particular is both unique and puzzling: evidence of doubly-magic features are known in 40,48Ca, and recently suggested in two radioactive isotopes, 52,54Ca. Although many properties of experimentally known Ca isotopes have been successfully described by nuclear theory, it is still a challenge to predict their charge radii evolution. Here we present the first measurements of the charge radii of 49,51,52Ca, obtained from laser spectroscopy experiments at ISOLDE, CERN. The experimental results are complemented by state-of-the-art theo…
Charge Radius of the Short-Lived Ni68 and Correlation with the Dipole Polarizability
We present the first laser spectroscopic measurement of the neutron-rich nucleus ^{68}Ni at the N=40 subshell closure and extract its nuclear charge radius. Since this is the only short-lived isotope for which the dipole polarizability α_{D} has been measured, the combination of these observables provides a benchmark for nuclear structure theory. We compare them to novel coupled-cluster calculations based on different chiral two- and three-nucleon interactions, for which a strong correlation between the charge radius and dipole polarizability is observed, similar to the stable nucleus ^{48}Ca. Three-particle-three-hole correlations in coupled-cluster theory substantially improve the descrip…