Ab initio computation of the 17F proton-halo state and resonances in A = 17 nuclei

TL;DR

This study uses ab initio coupled-cluster methods with continuum effects to accurately compute energies and lifetimes of states in 17F and 17O nuclei, highlighting the importance of continuum contributions.

Contribution

It introduces a Gamow-Hartree-Fock basis in coupled-cluster calculations to incorporate scattering continuum effects in nuclear structure predictions.

Findings

Accurate prediction of 17F and 17O states agrees with experimental data.

Continuum effects significantly increase binding energies of certain states.

Spin-orbit splitting is underestimated due to missing three-nucleon forces.

Abstract

We perform coupled-cluster calculations of the energies and lifetimes of single-particle states around the doubly magic nucleus 16O based on chiral nucleon-nucleon interactions at next-to-next- to-next-to-leading order. To incorporate effects from the scattering continuum, we solve the coupled- cluster equations with a Gamow-Hartree-Fock basis. Our calculations for the 1/2+ proton-halo state in 17F and the 1/2+ state in 17O agree well with experiment, while the calculated spin-orbit splitting between d5/2 and d3/2 states is too small due to the lack of three-nucleon forces. We find that continuum effects yield a significant amount of additional binding energy for the 1/2+ and 3/2+ states in 17O and 17F.