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We calculate the nuclear and neutron matter equations of state from microscopic nuclear forces at different orders in chiral effective field theory and with varying momentum-space cutoff scales. We focus attention on how the order-by-order convergence depends on the choice of resolution scale and the implications for theoretical uncertainty estimates on the isospin asymmetry energy. Specifically we study the equations of state using consistent NLO and N2LO (next-to-next-to-leading order) chiral potentials where the low-energy constants cD and cE associated with contact vertices in the N2LO chiral three-nucleon force are fitted to reproduce the binding energies of 3H and 3He as well as the beta-decay lifetime of 3H. At these low orders in the chiral expansion there is little sign of convergence, while an exploratory study employing the N3LO two-nucleon force together with the N2LO three-nucleon force give first indications for (slow) convergence with low-cutoff potentials and poor convergence with higher-cutoff potentials. The consistent NLO and N2LO potentials described in the present work provide the basis for estimating theoretical uncertainties associated with the order-by-order convergence of nuclear many-body calculations in chiral effective field theory., Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in Physical Review C

This paper is an homage to the seminal work of Gerry Brown and Tom Kuo, where shell model calculations were performed for 18O and 18F using an effective interaction derived from the Hamada-Johnston nucleon-nucleon potential. That work has been the first successful attempt to provide a description of nuclear structure properties starting from the free nucleon-nucleon potential. We shall compare the approach employed in the 1966 paper with the derivation of a modern realistic shell-model interaction for sd-shell nuclei, evidencing the progress that has been achieved during the last decades., Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, to be published in Nuclear Physics A, contribution to the Gerry Brown's Memorial Volume

This paper presents a short overview of the shell-model approach with realistic effective interactions to the study of exotic nuclei. We first give a sketch of the current state of the art of the theoretical framework of this approach, focusing on the main ingredients and most relevant recent advances. Then, we present some selected results for neutron-rich nuclei in various mass regions, namely oxygen isotopes, $N=40$ isotones, and nuclei around $^{132}$Sn, to show the merit as well as the limits of these calculations., Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, talk presented at the XIV Convegno Su Problemi Di Fisica Nucleare Teorica, Cortona, 2013, to be published on Journal of Physics: conference Series

We compute the energy per particle of infinite symmetric nuclear matter from chiral N3LO (next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order) two-body potentials plus N2LO three-body forces. The low-energy constants of the chiral three-nucleon force that cannot be constrained by two-body observables are fitted to reproduce the triton binding energy and the 3H-3He Gamow-Teller transition matrix element. In this way, the saturation properties of nuclear matter are reproduced in a parameter-free approach. The equation of state is computed up to third order in many-body perturbation theory, with special emphasis on the role of the third-order particle-hole diagram. The dependence of these results on the cutoff scale and regulator function is studied. We find that the inclusion of three-nucleon forces consistent with the applied two-nucleon interaction leads to a reduced dependence on the choice of the regulator only for lower values of the cutoff., Comment: 9 pages, 12 figures, 3 tables, to be published in Physical Review C. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1209.5537

We calculate perturbatively the energy per nucleon in infinite nuclear matter with a chiral N3LO (next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order) two-body potential plus a N2LO three-body force (3BF). The 3BF low-energy constants which cannot be constrained by two-body observables are chosen such as to reproduce the A=3 binding energies and the triton Gamow-Teller matrix element. This enables to study the nuclear matter equation of state in a parameter-free approach., Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, talk presented at "XIV Convegno su Problemi di Fisica Nucleare Teorica", Cortona October 29-31, 2013. Submitted to Journal of Physics: Conferences Series

We perform realistic shell-model calculations for nuclei with valence nucleons outside 48Ca, employing two different model spaces. The matrix elements of the effective two-body interaction and electromagnetic multipole operators have been calculated within the framework of the many-body perturbation theory, starting from a low-momentum potential derived from the high-precision CD-Bonn free nucleon-nucleon potential. The role played by the neutron orbital 1d5/2 has been investigated by comparing experimental data on yrast quadrupole excitations of isotopic chains north-east of 48Ca with the results of calculations including or not including this single-particle state in the model space., Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, 7 tables, to be published in Physical Review C

We have performed shell-model calculations of binding energies of nuclei around $^{132}$Sn. The main aim of our study has been to find out if the behavior of odd-even staggering across N=82 is explainable in terms of the shell model. In our calculations, we have employed realistic low-momentum two-body effective interactions derived from the CD-Bonn nucleon-nucleon potential that have already proved quite successful in describing the spectroscopic properties of nuclei in the $^{132}$Sn region. Comparison shows that our results fully explains the trend of the experimental staggering., Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure

We have performed shell-model calculations for the two one valence-neutron isotones $^{135}$Te and $^{137}$Xe and the two one valence-proton isotopes $^{135,137}$Sb. The main aim of our study has been to investigate the evolution of single-particle states with increasing nucleon number. To this end, we have focused attention on the spectroscopic factors and the effective single-particle energies. In our calculations, we have employed a realistic low-momentum two-body effective interaction derived from the CD-Bonn nucleon-nucleon potential that has already proved quite successful in describing the spectroscopic properties of nuclei in the $^{132}$Sn region. Comparison shows that our results reproduce very well the available experimental data. This gives confidence in the evolution of the single-particle states 4 figures predicted by the present study., Comment: 7 pages, 4figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. C

We have performed shell-model calculations for the nucleus $^{137}$Xe, which was recently studied experimentally using the $^{136}$Xe($d,p$) reaction in inverse kinematics. The main aim of our study has been to investigate the single-neutron properties of the observed states, focusing attention on the spectroscopic factors. We have employed a realistic low-momentum two-body effective interaction derived from the CD-Bonn nucleon-nucleon potential that has already proved quite successful in describing the spectroscopic properties of nuclei in the $^{132}$Sn region. Comparison shows that our calculations reproduce very well the experimental excitation energies and yield spectroscopic factors that come close to those extracted from the data., Comment: 7 pages, 1 table, submitted to Physical Review C

We calculate the energy per particle in infinite neutron matter perturbatively using chiral N3LO two-body potentials plus N2LO three-body forces. The cutoff dependence of the predictions is investigated by employing chiral interactions with different regulators. We find that the inclusion of three-nucleon forces, which are consistent with the applied two-nucleon interaction, leads to a strongly reduced regulator dependence of the results., Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, 1 table, to be published in Physical Review C

We compare nuclear and neutron matter predictions based on two different ab initio approaches to nuclear forces and the nuclear many-body problem. The first consists of a realistic meson-theoretic nucleon-nucleon potential together with the relativistic counterpart of the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock theory of nuclear matter. The second is based on chiral effective field theory, with density-dependent interactions derived from leading order chiral three-nucleon forces. We find the results to be very close and conclude that both approaches contain important features governing the physics of nuclear and neutron matter., Comment: PDFLATEX, 6 figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1107.3339, arXiv:1111.0695, arXiv:1002.0146

This paper discusses the derivation of an effective shell-model hamiltonian starting from a realistic nucleon-nucleon potential by way of perturbation theory. More precisely, we present the state of the art of this approach when the starting point is the perturbative expansion of the Q-box vertex function. Questions arising from diagrammatics, intermediate-states and order-by-order convergences, and their dependence on the chosen nucleon-nucleon potential, are discussed in detail, and the results of numerical applications for the p-shell model space starting from chiral next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order potentials are shown. Moreover, an alternative graphical method to derive the effective hamiltonian, based on the Z-box vertex function recently introduced by Suzuki et al., is applied to the case of a non-degenerate (0+2) hbaromega model space. Finally, our shell-model results are compared with the exact ones obtained from no-core shell-model calculations., Comment: 40 pages, 22 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in Annals of Physics

We have performed shell-model calculations for nuclei below 100Sn, focusing attention on the two N=Z nuclei 96Cd and 92Pd, the latter having been recently the subject of great experimental and theoretical interest. We have considered nuclei for which the 0g9/2 orbit plays a dominant role and employed a realistic low-momentum two-body effective interaction derived from the CD-Bonn nucleon-nucleon potential. This implies that no phenomenological input enters our effective Hamiltonian. The calculated results for 92Pd are in very good agreement with the available experimental data, which gives confidence in our predictions for 96Cd. An analysis of the wave functions of both 96Cd and 92Pd is performed to investigate the role of the isoscalar spin-aligned coupling., Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, 4 tables, to be published in Physical Review C

The advent of nucleon-nucleon potentials derived from chiral perturbation theory, as well as the so-called V-low-k approach to the renormalization of the strong short-range repulsion contained in the potentials, have brought renewed interest in realistic shell-model calculations. Here we focus on calculations where a fully microscopic approach is adopted. No phenomenological input is needed in these calculations, because single-particle energies, matrix elements of the two-body interaction, and matrix elements of the electromagnetic multipole operators are derived theoretically. This has been done within the framework of the time-dependent degenerate linked-diagram perturbation theory. We present results for some nuclei in different mass regions. These evidence the ability of realistic effective hamiltonians to provide an accurate description of nuclear structure properties., Comment: 6 pages, 9 figures, talk presented at INPC2010, Vancouver, July 4 -9 2010. Accepted for publication in Journal of Physics: Conference Series

We report on a shell-model study of Sn isotopes beyond N=82 employing a realistic effective interaction derived from the CD-Bonn nucleon-nucleon potential renormalized through use of the V-low-k approach. At present, the most exotic Sn isotope for which some experimental information exists is 134Sn with an N/Z ratio of 1.68. It is the aim of our study to compare the results of our calculations with the available experimental data and to make predictions for the neighboring heavier isotopes which may be within reach of the next generation of radioactive ion beam facilities. The very good agreement between theory and experiment obtained for 134Sn gives confidence in the predictive power of our realistic shell-model calculations., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, talk presented at 10th International Spring Seminar on Nuclear Physics "New Quests in Nuclear Structure", Vietri sul Mare, may 21-25, 2010. To be published on Journal of Physics Conference Series

We study the neutron-rich calcium isotopes performing shell-model calculations with a realistic effective interaction. This is derived from the CD-Bonn nucleon-nucleon potential renormalized by way of the V-low-k approach, considering 48Ca as an inert core and including the neutron 0g9/2 orbital. We compare our results with experiment and with the results of a previous study where 40Ca was assumed as a closed core and the standard 1p0f model space was employed. The calculated spectroscopic properties are in both cases in very good agreement with the available experimental data and enable a discussion on the role of the g9/2 single-particle state in the heavy-mass Ca isotopes., Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, 4 tables, talk presented at 10th International Spring Seminar on Nuclear Physics "New Quests in Nuclear Structure", Vietri sul Mare, may 21-25, 2010. To be published on Journal of Physics Conference Series

We have studied neutron-rich carbon isotopes in terms of the shell model employing a realistic effective hamiltonian derived from the chiral N3LOW nucleon-nucleon potential. The single-particle energies and effective two-body interaction have been both determined within the framework of the time-dependent degenerate linked-diagram perturbation theory. The calculated results are in very good agreement with the available experimental data, providing a sound description of this isotopic chain toward the neutron dripline. The correct location of the dripline is reproduced., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 5 tables, to be published in Physical Review C

New experimental information has been recently obtained on the odd-odd nucleus 134-I. We interpret the five observed excited states up to the energy of ~3 MeV on the basis of a realistic shell-model calculation, and make spin-parity assignments accordingly. A very good agreement is found between the experimental and calculated energies., Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure

We have studied neutron-rich calcium isotopes in terms of the shell model employing a realistic effective interaction derived from the CD-Bonn nucleon-nucleon potential. The short-range repulsion of the potential is renormalized by way of the V-low-k approach. The calculated results are in very good agreement with the available experimental data, thus supporting our predictions for the hitherto unknown spectra of 53-56Ca nuclei. In this context, the possible existence of an N=34 shell closure is discussed., Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, to be published in Physical Review C

We discuss shell-model calculations based on the use of low-momentum interactions derived from the free-space nucleon-nucleon potential. A main feature of this approach is the construction of a smooth potential, V-low-k, defined within a given momentum cutoff. As a practical application of the theoretical framework, we present some selected results of our current study of nuclei around doubly magic 132Sn and 208Pb which have been obtained starting from the CD-Bonn potential. Focusing attention on the similarity between the spectroscopy of these two regions, we show that it emerges quite naturally from our effective interactions without use of any adjustable parameter., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures

Starting from the striking similarity of proton-neutron multiplets in 134Sb and 210Bi, we perform a shell-model study of nuclei with two additional protons or neutrons to find out to what extent this analogy persists. We employ effective interactions derived from the CD-Bonn nucleon-nucleon potential renormalized by use of the V-low-k approach. The calculated results for 136Sb, 212Bi, 136I, and 212At are in very good agreement with the available experimental data. The similarity between 132Sn and 208Pb regions is discussed in connection with the effective interaction, emphasizing the role of core polarization effects., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables

We have performed shell-model calculations for the even- and odd-mass N=82 isotones, focusing attention on low-energy states. The single-particle energies and effective two-body interaction have been both determined within the framework of the time-dependent degenerate linked-diagram perturbation theory, starting from a low-momentum interaction derived from the CD-Bonn nucleon-nucleon potential. In this way, no phenomenological input enters our effective Hamiltonian, whose reliability is evidenced by the good agreement between theory and experiment., Comment: 7 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables, to be published in Physical Review C

We report on a study of exotic nuclei around doubly magic 132Sn in terms of the shell model employing a realistic effective interaction derived from the CD-Bonn nucleon-nucleon potential. The short-range repulsion of the latter is renormalized by constructing a smooth low-momentum potential, V-low-k, that is used directly as input for the calculation of the effective interaction. In this paper, we focus attention on proton-neutron multiplets in the odd-odd nuclei 134Sb, 136Sb. We show that the behavior of these multiplets is quite similar to that of the analogous multiplets in the counterpart nuclei in the 208Pb region, 210Bi and 212Bi., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, talk presented at "Nuclear Physics and Astrophyisics: From Stable Beams to Exotic Nuclei", June 25-30, 2008, Cappadocia, Turkey

A review is presented of the development and current status of nuclear shell-model calculations in which the two-body effective interaction is derived from the free nucleon-nucleon potential. The significant progress made in this field within the last decade is emphasized, in particular as regards the so-called V-low-k approach to the renormalization of the bare nucleon-nucleon interaction. In the last part of the review we first give a survey of realistic shell-model calculations from early to present days. Then, we report recent results for neutron-rich nuclei near doubly magic 132Sn and for the whole even-mass N=82 isotonic chain. These illustrate how shell-model effective interactions derived from modern nucleon-nucleon potentials are able to provide an accurate description of nuclear structure properties., Comment: 71 pages, to be published in Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics

We report on a study of neutron-rich nuclei around doubly magic 132Sn in terms of the shell model employing a realistic effective interaction derived from the CD-Bonn nucleon-nucleon potential. The short-range repulsion of the bare potential is renormalized by constructing a low-momentum potential, V-low-k, that is used directly as input for the calculation of the effective interaction. We present results for the four nuclei beyond the N=82 shell closure 134Sn, 134Sb, 136Sb, and 136Te. Comparison shows that our results are in very good agreement with the experimental data presently available for these exotic nuclei. We also present our predictions of the hitherto unknown spectrum of 136Sn., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, published in the Proceedings of the 9th International Spring Seminar on Nuclear Physics ``Changing Facets of Nuclear Structure'', Vico Equense, 20-24 May 2007. Edited by A. Covello, World Scientific, Singapore, 2008. p. 253 - 262

The single-particle spectrum of the two nuclei 133Sb and 101Sn is studied within the framework of the time-dependent degenerate linked-diagram perturbation theory starting from a class of onshell-equivalent realistic nucleon-nucleon potentials. These potentials are derived from the CD-Bonn interaction by using the so-called V-low-k approach with various cutoff momenta. The results obtained evidence the crucial role of short-range correlations in producing the correct 2s1d0g0h shell structure., Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, 1 table

The study of exotic nuclei around 132Sn is a subject of current experimental and theoretical interest. Experimental information for nuclei in the vicinity of 132Sn, which have been long inaccessible to spectroscopic studies, is now available thanks to new advanced facilities and techniques. The experimental data which have been now become available for these neutron-rich nuclei may suggest a modification in the shell structure. They are, in fact, somewhat different from what one might expect by extrapolating the existing results for N<82, and as a possible explanation a change in the single-proton level scheme has been suggested. The latter would be caused by a more diffuse nuclear surface, and could be seen as a precursor of major effects which should show up at larger neutron excess. New data offer therefore the opportunity to test the shell model and look for a possible evolution of shell structure when going toward neutron drip line. This is stimulating shell-model studies in this region. Here, we present an overview of recent shell-model studies of 132Sn neighbors, focusing attention on those calculations employing realistic effective interactions., Comment: 8 pages, 4 tables, invited talk at INPC2007, Tokyo, Japan, June 3-8 2007. To be published in Nuclear Physics A

We report on a study of exotic nuclei around doubly magic 132Sn in terms of the shell model employing a realistic effective interaction derived from the CD-Bonn nucleon-nucleon potential. The short-range repulsion of the bare potential is renormalized by constructing a smooth low-momentum potential, V-low-k, that is used directly as input for the calculation of the effective interaction. In this paper we focus attention on the nuclei 134Sn and 135Sb which, with an N/Z ratio of 1.68 and 1.65, respectively, are at present the most exotic nuclei beyond 132Sn for which information exists on excited states. Comparison shows that the calculated results for both nuclei are in very good agreement with the experimental data. We present our predictions of the hitherto unknown spectrum of 136Sn., Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, 2 tables, talk given at 7th International Conference on Radioactive Nuclear Beams, Cortina d'Ampezzo (Italy), July 3-7 2006

The odd-odd nucleus 210Bi is studied within the framework of the shell model using effective two-body matrix elements derived from the CD-Bonn nucleon-nucleon potential. The experimental energies of the proton-neutron multiplet ph9/2 ng9/2 are remarkably well reproduced by the theory, which accounts for the 1- state being the ground state instead of the 0- predicted by the Nordheim strong coupling rule. It is shown that the core-polarization effects are crucial to produce this inversion. The similarity between neutron-proton multiplets in the 132Sn and 208Pb regions is discussed in connection with the effective interaction., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, to be published on Physical Review C as a Rapid Communication

In the last few years, the low-momentum nucleon-nucleon (NN) interaction V-low-k derived from free-space NN potentials has been successfully used in shell-model calculations. V-low-k is a smooth potential which preserves the deuteron binding energy as well as the half-on-shell T-matrix of the original NN potential up to a momentum cutoff Lambda. In this paper we put to the test a new low-momentum NN potential derived from chiral perturbation theory at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order with a sharp low-momentum cutoff at 2.1 fm-1. Shell-model calculations for the oxygen isotopes using effective hamiltonians derived from both types of low-momentum potential are performed. We find that the two potentials show the same perturbative behavior and yield very similar results., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, to be published in Physical Review C

We have calculated the ground-state energy of the doubly-magic nucleus 40Ca within the framework of the Goldstone expansion using the CD-Bonn nucleon-nucleon potential. The short-range repulsion of this potential has been renormalized by integrating out its high-momentum components so as to derive a low-momentum potential V-low-k defined up to a cutoff momentum Lambda. A simple criterion has been employed to establish a connection between this cutoff momentum and the size of the two-nucleon model space in the harmonic oscillator basis. This model-space truncation approach provides a reliable way to renormalize the free nucleon-nucleon potential preserving its many-body physics. The role of the 3p-3h and 4p-4h excitations in the description of the ground state of 40Ca is discussed., Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, 1 table, to be published in Physical Review C

In this paper, we first give a brief review of the theoretical framework for microscopic shell-model calculations starting from the free nucleon-nucleon potential. In this context, we discuss the use of the low-momentum nucleon-nucleon interaction V-low-k in the derivation of the shell-model effective interaction and emphasize its practical value as an alternative to the Brueckner G-matrix method. Then, we present some results of our current study of exotic nuclei around doubly magic 132Sn, which have been obtained starting from the CD-Bonn potential renormalized by use of the V-low-k approach. Attention is focused on the nuclei 134Te, 134Sn, and 136Te, in particular on the latter which is a direct source of information on the proton-neutron effective interaction in the 132Sn region. Comparison shows that our results are in very good agreement with the available experimental data., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, to be published in Prog. Part. Nucl. Phys

We report on a study of neutron-rich even-mass Te isotopes in terms of the shell model employing a realistic effective interaction derived from the CD-Bonn nucleon-nucleon potential. The strong short-range repulsion of the latter is renormalized by constructing a smooth low-momentum potential, V-low-k, that is used directly as input for the calculation of the effective interaction. In this paper, after a brief review of the theoretical framework, we present our results. Comparison shows that they are in very good agreement with the available experimental data., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, talk presented at 25th International Workshop on Nuclear Theory, Rila Mountains, June 26-July 1, 2006

The ground-state energy of the doubly magic nuclei 4He and 16O has been calculated within the framework of the Goldstone expansion starting from modern nucleon-nucleon potentials. A low-momentum potential V-low-k has been derived from the bare potential by integrating out its high-momentum components beyond a cutoff Lambda. We have employed a simple criterion to relate this cutoff momentum to a boundary condition for the two-nucleon model space spanned by a harmonic-oscillator basis. Convergence of the results has been obtained with a limited number of oscillator quanta., Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, talk given at 11th Conference on Problems in Theoretical Nuclear Physics, Cortona, Italy, 11-14 October 2006

The experimental level structure of 134Sb is compared with the results of a shell-model calculation in which the two-body matrix elements of the effective interaction have been derived from the CD-Bonn nucleon-nucleon potential. The experimental data, including the very low-lying first-excited 1- state, are remarkably well reproduced by the theory. The results of this paper complement those of our previous studies on 135Sb and 134Sn, showing that our effective interaction is well suited to describe 132Sn neighbors beyond N=82. The various terms which contribute to the matrix elements of the proton-neutron effective interaction are examined and their relative importance is evidenced., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, published on Physical Review C

We discuss the use of the low-momentum nucleon-nucleon NN interaction V-low-k in the derivation of the shell-model effective interaction and emphasize its practical value as an alternative to the Brueckner G-matrix method. We present some selected results of our current study of exotic nuclei around closed shells, which have been obtained starting from the CD-Bonn potential. We also show some results of calculations performed with different phase-shift equivalent NN potentials, and discuss the effect of changes in the cutoff momentum which defines the V-low-k potential., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, Talk presented at CDN05, 31 Jan - 4 Feb 2005, University of Tokyo, Japan

Recent studies have provided new experimental information on the very neutron-rich nucleus 135Sb. We have performed a shell-model calculation for this nucleus using a realistic effective interaction derived from the CD-Bonn nucleon-nucleon potential. This gives a very good description of the observed properties of 135Sb. We show that the anomalously low position of the first excited state, J=5/2+, and the strongly hindered M1 transition to the ground state have their origin in the effective neutron-proton interaction., Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, 2 tables, to be published on Physical Review C