Living on the edge of stability, the limits of the nuclear landscape

TL;DR

This paper reviews the challenges and advances in first-principles nuclear theory, emphasizing the importance of three-nucleon forces and many-body correlations near the nuclear drip lines, with a focus on computational approaches.

Contribution

It highlights the critical role of three-nucleon forces and continuum couplings in accurately modeling nuclei at the limits of stability, advancing the nuclear theory roadmap.

Findings

Three-nucleon forces are essential for nuclear structure predictions.

Many-body correlations due to continuum coupling are crucial near drip lines.

High performance computing enables comprehensive nuclear modeling.

Abstract

A first-principles description of nuclear systems along the drip lines presents a substantial theoretical and computational challenge. In this paper, we discuss the nuclear theory roadmap, some of the key theoretical approaches, and present selected results with a focus on long isotopic chains. An important conclusion, which consistently emerges from these theoretical analyses, is that three-nucleon forces are crucial for both global nuclear properties and detailed nuclear structure, and that many-body correlations due to the coupling to the particle continuum are essential as one approaches particle drip lines. In the quest for a comprehensive nuclear theory, high performance computing plays a key role.