Symplectic Effective Field Theory for Nuclear Structure Studies

TL;DR

This paper introduces a Symplectic Effective Field Theory that captures symplectic symmetry in nuclei, providing a new Hamiltonian approach that accurately predicts nuclear properties like energy spectra and radii.

Contribution

It develops a novel effective field theory based on symplectic symmetry, extending the harmonic-oscillator model with a self-consistent scale, and demonstrates its effectiveness on specific nuclei.

Findings

Accurately predicts energy spectra of 20Ne, 22Ne, and 22Mg.

Provides B(E2) transition values consistent with experiments.

Yields matter radii in good agreement with measurements.

Abstract

A Symplectic Effective Field Theory that unveils the observed emergence of symplectic symmetry in atomic nuclei is advanced. Specifically, starting from a simple extension of the harmonic-oscillator Lagrangian, an effective field theory applied against symplectic basis states is shown to yield a Hamiltonian system with one fitted parameter. The scale of the system can be determined self consistently as the ratio of the average volume of a nucleus assumed to be spherical to its volume as determined by the average number of oscillator quanta, which is stretched by the fact that the plane-wave solution satisfies the equations of motion at every order without the need for perturbative corrections. As an application of the theory, results for 20Ne, 22Ne and 22Mg are presented that yield energy spectra, B(E2) values, and matter radii in good agreement with experimentally measured results.