0000000001325725
AUTHOR
Jonathan Engel
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…
Correlating Schiff Moments in the Light Actinides with Octupole Moments
We show that the measured intrinsic octupole moments of $^{220}$Rn, $^{224}$Ra, and $^{226}$Ra constrain the intrinsic Schiff moments of $^{225}$Ra$^{221}$Rn, $^{223}$Rn, $^{223}$Fr, $^{225}$Ra, and $^{229}$Pa. The result is a dramatically reduced uncertainty in intrinsic Schiff moments. Direct measurements of octupole moments in odd nuclei will reduce the uncertainty even more. The only significant source of nuclear-physics error in the laboratory Schiff moments will then be the intrinsic matrix elements of the time-reversal non-invariant interaction produced by CP-violating fundamental physics. Those matrix elements are also correlated with octupole moments, but with a larger systematic u…
Opportunities for Fundamental Physics Research with Radioactive Molecules
Molecules containing short-lived, radioactive nuclei are uniquely positioned to enable a wide range of scientific discoveries in the areas of fundamental symmetries, astrophysics, nuclear structure, and chemistry. Recent advances in the ability to create, cool, and control complex molecules down to the quantum level, along with recent and upcoming advances in radioactive species production at several facilities around the world, create a compelling opportunity to coordinate and combine these efforts to bring precision measurement and control to molecules containing extreme nuclei. In this manuscript, we review the scientific case for studying radioactive molecules, discuss recent atomic, mo…
New determination of double-β-decay properties in48Ca: High-precisionQββ-value measurement and improved nuclear matrix element calculations
We report a direct measurement of the Q-value of the neutrinoless double-beta-decay candidate 48Ca at the TITAN Penning-trap mass spectrometer, with the result that Q = 4267.98(32) keV. We measured the masses of both the mother and daughter nuclides, and in the latter case found a 1 keV deviation from the literature value. In addition to the Q-value, we also present results of a new calculation of the neutrinoless double-beta-decay nuclear matrix element of 48Ca. Using diagrammatic many-body perturbation theory to second order to account for physics outside the valence space, we constructed an effective shell-model double-beta-decay operator, which increased the nuclear matrix element by ab…
FRIB and the GW170817 Kilonova
In July 2018 an FRIB Theory Alliance program was held on the implications of GW170817 and its associated kilonova for r-process nucleosynthesis. Topics of discussion included the astrophysical and nuclear physics uncertainties in the interpretation of the GW170817 kilonova, what we can learn about the astrophysical site or sites of the r process from this event, and the advances in nuclear experiment and theory most crucial to pursue in light of the new data. Here we compile a selection of scientific contributions to the workshop, broadly representative of progress in r-process studies since the GW170817 event.
Fully self-consistent calculations of nuclear Schiff moments
We calculate the Schiff moments of the nuclei 199Hg and 211Ra in completely self-consistent odd-nucleus mean-field theory by modifying the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov code HFODD. We allow for arbitrary shape deformation, and include the effects of nucleon dipole moments alongside those of a CP-violating pion-exchange nucleon-nucleon interaction. The results for 199Hg differ significantly from those of previous calculations when the CP-violating interaction is of isovector character.
FRIB and the GW170817 Kilonova
In July 2018 an FRIB Theory Alliance program was held on the implications of GW170817 and its associated kilonova for r-process nucleosynthesis. Topics of discussion included the astrophysical and nuclear physics uncertainties in the interpretation of the GW170817 kilonova, what we can learn about the astrophysical site or sites of the r process from this event, and the advances in nuclear experiment and theory most crucial to pursue in light of the new data. Here we compile a selection of scientific contributions to the workshop, broadly representative of progress in r-process studies since the GW170817 event.