Resonances of unbound quantum many-body systems of nuclei

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel first-principles method using complex-energy IMSRG in the Gamow-Berggren representation to accurately describe resonances in unbound quantum many-body nuclear systems, successfully applied to isotopes like 22O, 24O, and 22C.

Contribution

The paper develops the first ab initio Gamow IMSRG method in the complex-energy representation for unbound quantum systems, enabling precise resonance calculations.

Findings

Resonant states in neutron-rich 22O and 24O are well reproduced.

The halo structure of 22C is clearly demonstrated through density calculations.

Predicted low-lying resonant states in 22C.

Abstract

Resonance is a general phenomenon which can happen in classic or quantum systems. An unbound many-body quantum system can undergo a self-resonant process. It has long been a challenge how to describe unbound many-body quantum systems in resonances. In this paper, we develop a novel first-principles method that is capable of describing resonant quantum systems. We exploit, for the first time, the advanced in-medium similarity renormalization group (IMSRG) in the complex-energy Gamow-Berggren representation with resonance and non-resonant continuum. The ab initio Gamow IMSRG has broad applications, such as, to the electromagnetic-interaction systems of atoms, molecules or quantum dots, and strong-interaction atomic nuclei. In the present work, we apply the method to loosely bound or unbound nuclear systems. Carbon and oxygen isotopes have been investigated with an optimized chiral effective field theory potential. The resonant states observed in neutron-rich 22O and 24O are well reproduced. The loose halo structure of the Borromean nucleus 22C is clearly seen by the density calculation, in which the continuum s-waves play a crucial role. Further, we predict low-lying resonant excited states in 22C. This method provides rigorous and tractable theoretical calculations for weakly-bound or unbound open quantum systems.