Unified description of $^6$Li structure and deuterium-$^4$He dynamics with chiral two- and three-nucleon forces

TL;DR

This paper presents a comprehensive ab initio study of the $^6$Li nucleus and deuterium-$^4$He scattering using chiral nuclear forces, successfully predicting binding energies and scattering observables aligned with experimental data.

Contribution

It is the first unified ab initio calculation of $^6$Li structure and d-$^4$He scattering incorporating chiral two- and three-nucleon forces with continuum effects.

Findings

Correctly predicts $^6$Li binding energy and wave function ratios.

Overestimates the energy of the first $3^+$ state by 350 keV.

Differential cross sections agree well with experimental data.

Abstract

Prototype for the study of weakly bound projectiles colliding on stable targets, the scattering of deuterium ($d$) on $^4$He ($\alpha$) is an important milestone in the search for a fundamental understanding of low-energy reactions. At the same time, it is also important for its role in the Big-bang nucleosynthesis of $^6$Li and applications in the characterization of deuterium impurities in materials. We present the first unified {\em ab initio} study of the $^6$Li ground state and $d$-$^4$He elastic scattering using two- and three-nucleon forces derived within the framework of chiral effective field theory. The six-nucleon bound-state and scattering observables are calculated by means of the no-core shell model with continuum. %and are compared to available experimental data. We analyze the influence of the dynamic polarization of the deuterium and of the chiral three-nucleon force, and examine the role of the continuum degrees of freedom in shaping the low-lying spectrum of $^6$Li. We find that the adopted Hamiltonian correctly predicts the binding energy of $^6$Li, yielding an asymptotic $D$- to $S$-state ratio of the $^6$Li wave function in $d+\alpha$ configuration of $-0.027$ in agreement with the value determined from a phase shift analysis of $^6$Li+$^4$He elastic scattering, but overestimates the excitation energy of the first $3^+$ state by $350$ keV. The bulk of the computed differential cross section is in good agreement with data.