T-2, Nuclear and Particle Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology

Nuclei with Quantum Monte Carlo

Robert Wiringa
ANL

Ab-initio calculations of the structure of light nuclei, starting from "bare" two-nucleon interactions that fit NN scattering data, have become feasible over the last two decades using quantum Monte Carlo methods. Three-nucleon interactions and two-body electroweak current operators are important additional inputs. Present variational and Green's function Monte Carlo methods allow us to study nuclei up to A=12 with unprecedented accuracy. Properties we can evaluate include binding and excitation energies and the relative stability of neighboring nuclei. We can also study fine details like charge-independence-breaking and isospin-mixing, one- and two-nucleon densities in configuration and momentum space, electromagnetic moments and electroweak transitions and response, and nucleon-nucleus scattering. Overall, we have made great progress in understanding how complicated aspects of nuclear structure arise from the pairwise interactions between individual nucleons.

NNSA


Contact Us | Careers | Bradbury Science Museum | Emergencies | Inside LANL | Maps | Site Feedback | SSL Portal | Training

Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's NNSA© Copyright 2010-11 LANS, LLC All rights reserved | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy