Non-observable nature of the nuclear shell structure. Meaning, illustrations and consequences

TL;DR

This paper explores the theoretical nature of nuclear shell structure, emphasizing that it is non-observable and dependent on the resolution scale, and discusses how to meaningfully interpret and use it in nuclear physics analyses.

Contribution

The paper clarifies the non-observable nature of nuclear shell structure and proposes conditions for its meaningful interpretation within a fixed resolution scale framework.

Findings

ESPEs depend on the resolution scale and are non-observable.

Consistent analysis requires fixed resolution scales in structure and reaction calculations.

Shell structure should be used with caution, acknowledging its theoretical nature.

Abstract

The concept of single-nucleon shells constitutes a basic pillar of our understanding of nuclear structure. Effective single-particle energies (ESPEs) introduced by French and Baranger represent the most appropriate tool to relate many-body observables to a single-nucleon shell structure. As briefly discussed in [T. Duguet, G. Hagen, Phys. Rev. C {\bf 85}, 034330 (2012)], the dependence of ESPEs on one-nucleon transfer probability matrices makes them purely theoretical quantities that "run" with the non-observable resolution scale $\lambda$ employed in the calculation. Given that ESPEs provide a way to interpret the many-body problem in terms of simpler theoretical ingredients, the goal is to specify the terms, i.e. the exact sense and conditions, in which this interpretation can be conducted meaningfully. State-of-the-art multi-reference in-medium similarity renormalization group and self-consistent Gorkov Green's function many-body calculations are employed to corroborate the formal analysis. This is done by comparing the behavior of several observables and of non-observable ESPEs (and spectroscopic factors) under (quasi) unitary similarity renormalization group transformations of the Hamiltonian parameterized by the resolution scale $\lambda$. The non-observable nature of the nuclear shell structure, i.e. the fact that it constitutes an intrinsically theoretical object with no counterpart in the empirical world, must be recognized and assimilated. Eventually, practitioners can refer to nuclear shells and spectroscopic factors in their analyses of nuclear phenomena if, and only if, they use consistent structure and reaction theoretical schemes based on a fixed resolution scale they have agreed on prior to performing their analysis and comparisons.