From nucleons to nuclei to fusion reactions

TL;DR

This paper discusses the development and application of the ab initio no-core shell model/resonating-group method to understand nuclear structure and reactions, crucial for astrophysics and fusion energy.

Contribution

It introduces a unified computational approach combining nuclear structure and reaction modeling based on fundamental physics and high-performance computing.

Findings

Successful application to light nuclei scattering

Insights into fusion reactions powering stars

Advancement in ab initio nuclear modeling

Abstract

Nuclei are prototypes of many-body open quantum systems. Complex aggregates of protons and neutrons that interact through forces arising from quantum chromo-dynamics, nuclei exhibit both bound and unbound states, which can be strongly coupled. In this respect, one of the major challenges for computational nuclear physics, is to provide a unified description of structural and reaction properties of nuclei that is based on the fundamental underlying physics: the constituent nucleons and the realistic interactions among them. This requires a combination of innovative theoretical approaches and high-performance computing. In this contribution, we present one of such promising techniques, the ab initio no-core shell model/resonating-group method, and discuss applications to light nuclei scattering and fusion reactions that power stars and Earth-base fusion facilities.