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Elhatisari, Serdar

Publications and source records attributed to Elhatisari, Serdar.

Structure Factors for Hot Neutron Matter from Ab Initio Lattice Simulations with High-Fidelity Chiral Interactions

We present the first ab initio lattice calculations of spin and density correlations in hot neutron matter using high-fidelity interactions at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order in chiral effective field theory. These correlations have a large impact on neutrino heating and shock revival in core-collapse supernovae and are encapsulated in functions called structure factors. Unfortunately, calculations of structure factors using high-fidelity chiral interactions were well out of reach using existing computational methods. In this Letter, we solve the problem using a computational approach called the rank-one operator (RO) method. The RO method is a general technique with broad applications to simulations of fermionic many-body systems. It solves the problem of exponential scaling of computational effort when using perturbation theory for higher-body operators and higher-order corrections. Using the RO method, we compute the vector and axial static structure factors for hot neutron matter as a function of temperature and density. Here, the ab initio lattice results are in good agreement with virial expansion calculations at low densities but are more reliable at higher densities. Random phase approximation codes used to estimate neutrino opacity in core-collapse supernovae simulations can now be calibrated with ab initio lattice calculations.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Wavefunction matching for solving quantum many-body problems

Ab initio calculations have an essential role in our fundamental understanding of quantum many-body systems across many subfields, from strongly correlated fermions to quantum chemistry and from atomic and molecular systems to nuclear physics. One of the primary challenges is to perform accurate calculations for systems where the interactions may be complicated and difficult for the chosen computational method to handle. Here we address the problem by introducing an approach called wavefunction matching. Wavefunction matching transforms the interaction between particles so that the wavefunctions up to some finite range match that of an easily computable interaction. This allows for calculations of systems that would otherwise be impossible owing to problems such as Monte Carlo sign cancellations. We apply the method to lattice Monte Carlo simulations of light nuclei, medium-mass nuclei, neutron matter and nuclear matter. We use high-fidelity chiral effective field theory interactions and find good agreement with empirical data. These results are accompanied by insights on the nuclear interactions that may help to resolve long-standing challenges in accurately reproducing nuclear binding energies, charge radii and nuclear-matter saturation in ab initio calculations.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Nuclear Charge Radii of Silicon Isotopes

The nuclear charge radius of 32 Si was determined using collinear laser spectroscopy. The experimental result was confronted with ab initio nuclear lattice effective field theory, valence-space in-medium similarity renormalization group, and mean field calculations, highlighting important achievements and challenges of modern many-body methods. The charge radius of 32 Si completes the radii of the mirror pair 32 Ar – 32 Si, whose difference was correlated to the slope L of the symmetry energy in the nuclear equation of state. Furthermore, our result suggests L ≤ 60 MeV, which agrees with complementary observables.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Ab Initio Calculation of the Alpha-Particle Monopole Transition Form Factor

Here we present a parameter-free ab initio calculation of the α-particle monopole transition form factor in the framework of nuclear lattice effective field theory. We use a minimal nuclear interaction that was previously used to reproduce the ground state properties of light nuclei, medium-mass nuclei, and neutron matter simultaneously with no more than a few percent error in the energies and charge radii. The results for the monopole transition form factor are in good agreement with recent precision data from Mainz.

4He↗

Perturbative Quantum Monte Carlo Method for Nuclear Physics

While first order perturbation theory is routinely used in quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) calculations, higher-order terms present significant numerical challenges. We present a new approach for computing perturbative corrections in projection QMC calculations. Here we demonstrate the method by computing nuclear ground state energies up to second order for a realistic chiral interaction. We calculate the binding energies of several light nuclei up to 16 O by expanding the Hamiltonian around the Wigner SU(4) limit and find good agreement with data. In contrast to the natural ordering of the perturbative series, we find remarkably large second-order energy corrections. This occurs because the perturbing interactions break the symmetries of the unperturbed Hamiltonian. Our method is free from the sign problem and can be applied to QMC calculations for many-body systems in nuclear physics, condensed matter physics, ultracold atoms, and quantum chemistry.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Alpha-alpha scattering in the Multiverse

We investigate the phase shifts of low-energy α-α scattering under variations of the fundamental parameters of the Standard Model, namely the light quark mass, the electromagnetic fine-structure constant as well as the QCD θ-angle. As a first step, we recalculate α-α scattering in our Universe utilizing various improvements in the adiabatic projection method, which leads to an improved, parameter-free prediction of the S- and D-wave phase shifts for laboratory energies below 10 MeV. We find that positive shifts in the pion mass have a small effect on the S-wave phase shift, whereas lowering the pion mass adds some repulsion in the two-alpha system. The effect on the D-wave phase shift turns out to be more pronounced as signaled by the D-wave resonance parameters. Variations of the fine-structure constant have almost no effect on the low-energy α-α phase shifts. We further show that up-to-and-including next-to-leading order in the chiral expansion, variations of these phase shifts with respect to the QCD θ-angle can be expressed in terms of the θ-dependent pion mass.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Hidden Spin-Isospin Exchange Symmetry

The strong interactions among nucleons have an approximate spin-isospin exchange symmetry that arises from the properties of quantum chromodynamics in the limit of many colors, N c . However this large- N c symmetry is well hidden and reveals itself only when averaging over intrinsic spin orientations. Furthermore, the symmetry is obscured unless the momentum resolution scale is close to an optimal scale that we call Λ large-N c . We show that the large-N c derivation requires a momentum resolution scale of Λ large-N c ~ 500 MeV. We derive a set of spin-isospin exchange sum rules and discuss implications for the spectrum of 30 P and applications to nuclear forces, nuclear structure calculations, and three-nucleon interactions.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Ab Initio Nuclear Thermodynamics

Here, we propose a new Monte Carlo method called the pinhole trace algorithm for ab initio calculations of the thermodynamics of nuclear systems. For typical simulations of interest, the computational speedup relative to conventional grand-canonical ensemble calculations can be as large as a factor of one thousand. Using a leading-order effective interaction that reproduces the properties of many atomic nuclei and neutron matter to a few percent accuracy, we determine the location of the critical point and the liquid-vapor coexistence line for symmetric nuclear matter with equal numbers of protons and neutrons. We also present the first ab initio study of the density and temperature dependence of nuclear clustering.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Galilean invariance restoration on the lattice

We consider the breaking of Galilean invariance due to different lattice cutoff effects in moving frames and a nonlocal smearing parameter, which is used in the construction of the nuclear lattice interaction. The dispersion relation and neutron-proton scattering phase shifts are used to investigate the Galilean invariance breaking effects and ways to restore it. For S-wave channels, 1 S 0 and 3 S 1 , we present the neutron-proton scattering phase shifts in moving frames calculated using both Lüscher's formula and the spherical wall method, as well as the dispersion relation. For the P and D waves, we present the neutron-proton scattering phase shifts in moving frames calculated using the spherical wall method. Furthermore, we find that the Galilean invariance breaking effects stemming from the lattice artifacts partially cancel those caused by the nonlocal smearing parameter. Due to this cancellation, the Galilean invariance breaking effect is small, and the Galilean invariance can be restored by introducing Galilean invariance restoration operators.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Neutron-proton scattering with lattice chiral effective field theory at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order

Here we present a new lattice formulation of chiral effective field theory interactions with a simpler decomposition into spin channels. With these interactions the process of fitting to the empirical scattering phase shifts is simplified, and the resulting lattice phase shifts are more accurate than in previous studies. We present results for the neutron-proton system up to next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order for lattice spacings of 1.97, 1.64, 1.32, and 0.99 fm. Our results provide a pathway to ab initio lattice calculations of nuclear structure, reactions, and thermodynamics with accurate and systematic control over the chiral nucleon-nucleon force.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗