Snapshot of a Metropolis random walk displaying the position of 66 neutrons in the simulation box during the an AFDMC calculation of PNM at saturation density. The left panel refers to NV2-Ia NN force alone and the nucleons are distributed uniformly. In the right panel, the the three-body force NV2+3-Ia is included and leads to to the formation of closely packed droplets.
This team's research will pursue a multi-faceted strategy aimed at modeling short-and-long-range dynamics of nuclei providing reliable estimates of the associated theoretical uncertainty.
The experimental investigation of nuclear dynamics at a short range has flourished over the last few years. Electron-scattering experiments conducted at Jefferson Lab and other facilities worldwide enable selecting kinematics where the role of short-range correlations in the target nucleus becomes dominant. In addition, atomic nuclei are used in current and planned neutrino-oscillation and double-beta decay experiments, which will measure neutrino properties with unprecedented accuracy. Similarly to the electron case, these experiments are also sensitive to short-range correlations.
In this proposal, we will pursue a multi-faceted strategy aimed at modeling short-and-long-range dynamics of nuclei providing reliable estimates of the associated theoretical uncertainty. On the one hand, we will improve the determination of the low energy constants describing the short-range component of the nucleon-nucleon interactions, assessing their (correlated) uncertainties. On the other hand, we will implement this class of interactions in the numerical quantum Monte Carlo methods used by our group to compute the binding energies and radii of selected light nuclei. Finally, novel computational methods will be developed to obtain the β-decay rates of A = 11 and A = 12 nuclei and study the response densities of 12C and 16O induced by electrons and neutrinos scattering and gain more exclusive information about these processes. These studies will greatly impact ongoing experiments that uses electron to study in medium nucleon-correlations carried out at Jefferson Lab, and neutrino experimental facilities, e.g., the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE)
