The shell model Monte Carlo approach to level densities: recent developments and perspectives

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent progress in the shell model Monte Carlo method for calculating nuclear level densities and related properties, highlighting new techniques to address computational challenges and applications to various nuclear systems.

Contribution

It introduces a new method to overcome the odd-particle sign problem and applies the shell model Monte Carlo approach to diverse nuclear properties.

Findings

Successful calculation of level densities in nickel isotopes

Application to state densities in heavy nuclei

Analysis of spin distributions and quadrupole distributions

Abstract

We review recent advances in the shell model Monte Carlo approach for the microscopic calculation of statistical and collective properties of nuclei. We discuss applications to the calculation of (i) level densities in nickel isotopes, implementing a recent method to circumvent the odd-particle sign problem; (ii) state densities in heavy nuclei; (iii) spin distributions of nuclear levels; and (iv) finite-temperature quadrupole distributions.