We propose a new stochastic method to describe low-lying excited states of finite nuclei superposing multiple Slater determinants without assuming generator coordinates a priori. We examine accuracy of our method by using simple BKN interaction.
Properties of the baryon-baryon interactions in the strangeness $S=-2$ sector of chiral effective field theory at the next-to-leading order (NLO) level are explored by calculating $Xi$ single-particle potentials in symmetric nuclear matter. The results are transformed to the $Xi$ potential in finite nuclei by a local-density approximation with convolution by a Gaussian form factor to simulate finite-range effects. The $Xi$ potential is repulsive in a central region, and attractive in a surface area when the $Xi$ energy is low. The attractive pocket can lower the $Xi^-$ $s$ and $p$ atomic states. The obtained binding energies in $^{12}$C and $^{14}$N are found to be conformable with those found in emulsion experiments at Japans National Laboratory for High Energy Physics (KEK). $K^+$ spectra of $(K^-, K^+)$ $Xi$ production inclusive processes on $^9$Be and $^{12}$C are also evaluated, using a semi-classical distorted wave method. The absolute values of the cross section are properly reproduced for $^9$Be, but the peak locates at a lower energy position than that of the experimental data. The calculated spectrum of $^{12}$C should be compared with the forthcoming result from the new experiments recently carried out at KEK with better resolution than before. The comparison would be valuable to improve the understanding of the $Xi N$ interaction, the parametrization of which has still large uncertainties.
We present an extension of the Lowdin strategy to find arbitrary matrix elements of generic Slater determinants. The new method applies to arbitrary number of fermionic operators, even in the case of a singular overlap matrix.
Half-life of proton radioactivity of spherical proton emitters is studied within the scheme of covariant density functional (CDF) theory, and for the first time the potential barrier that prevents the emitted proton is extracted with the similarity renormalization group (SRG) method, in which the spin-orbit potential along with the others that turn out to be non-negligible can be derived automatically. The spectroscopic factor that is significant is also extracted from the CDF calculations. The estimated half-lives are found in good agreement with the experimental values, which not only confirms the validity of the CDF theory in describing the proton-rich nuclei, but also indicates the prediction power of present approach to calculate the half-lives and in turn to extract the structural information of proton emitters.
Magnetic dipole (M1) excitations build not only a fundamental mode of nucleonic transitions, but they are also relevant for nuclear astrophysics applications. We have established a theory framework for description of M1 transitions based on the relativistic nuclear energy density functional. For this purpose the relativistic quasiparticle random phase approximation (RQRPA) is established using density dependent point coupling interaction DD-PC1, supplemented with the isovector-pseudovector interaction channel in order to study unnatural parity transitions. The introduced framework has been validated using the M1 sum rule for core-plus-two-nucleon systems, and employed in studies of the spin, orbital, isoscalar and isovector M1 transition strengths, that relate to the electromagnetic probe, in magic nuclei $^{48}$Ca and $^{208}$Pb, and open shell nuclei $^{42}$Ca and $^{50}$Ti. In these systems, the isovector spin-flip M1 transition is dominant, mainly between one or two spin-orbit partner states. It is shown that pairing correlations have a significant impact on the centroid energy and major peak position of the M1 mode. The M1 excitations could provide an additional constraint to improve nuclear energy density functionals in the future studies.
We present an extension of the random--phase approximation (RPA) where the RPA phonons are used as building blocks to construct the excited states. In our model, that we call double RPA (DRPA), we include up to two RPA phonons. This is an approximate and simplified way, with respect to the full second random--phase approximation (SRPA), to extend the RPA by including two particle--two hole configurations. Some limitations of the standard SRPA model, related to the violation of the stability condition, are not encountered in the DRPA. We also verify in this work that the energy--weighted sum rules are satisfied. The DRPA is applied to low--energy modes and giant resonances in the nucleus $^{16}$O. We show that the model (i) produces a global downwards shift of the energies with respect to the RPA spectra; (ii) provides a shift that is however strongly reduced compared to that generated by the standard SRPA. This model represents an alternative way of correcting for the SRPA anomalous energy shift, compared to a recently developed extension of the SRPA, where a subtraction procedure is applied. The DRPA provides results in good agreeement with the experimental energies, with the exception of those low--lying states that have a dominant two particle--two hole nature. For describing such states, higher--order calculations are needed.