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Ab Initio Limits of Atomic Nuclei

S. R. Stroberg, J. D. Holt, A. Schwenk, and J. Simonis
Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 022501 – Published 12 January 2021
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Abstract

We predict the limits of existence of atomic nuclei, the proton and neutron drip lines, from the light through medium-mass regions. Starting from a chiral two- and three-nucleon interaction with good saturation properties, we use the valence-space in-medium similarity renormalization group to calculate ground-state and separation energies from helium to iron, nearly 700 isotopes in total. We use the available experimental data to quantify the theoretical uncertainties for our ab initio calculations towards the drip lines. Where the drip lines are known experimentally, our predictions are consistent within the estimated uncertainty. For the neutron-rich sodium to chromium isotopes, we provide predictions to be tested at rare-isotope beam facilities.

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  • Received 25 May 2019
  • Revised 5 October 2020
  • Accepted 18 November 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.022501

© 2021 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Nuclear Physics

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Predicting the Limits of Atomic Nuclei

Published 12 January 2021

First-principles calculations predict the properties of nearly 700 isotopes between helium and iron, showing which nuclides can exist and which cannot.

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Authors & Affiliations

S. R. Stroberg1,2,*, J. D. Holt2,3,†, A. Schwenk4,5,6,‡, and J. Simonis7,4,5,§

  • 1Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA
  • 2TRIUMF, 4004 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 2A3, Canada
  • 3Department of Physics, McGill University, 3600 Rue University, Montréal, Quebec H3A 2T8, Canada
  • 4Institut für Kernphysik, Technische Universität Darmstadt, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany
  • 5ExtreMe Matter Institute EMMI, GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH, 64291 Darmstadt, Germany
  • 6Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
  • 7Institut für Kernphysik and PRISMA Cluster of Excellence, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, 55099 Mainz, Germany

  • *stroberg@uw.edu
  • jholt@triumf.ca
  • schwenk@physik.tu-darmstadt.de
  • §simonis@uni-mainz.de

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Issue

Vol. 126, Iss. 2 — 15 January 2021

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