$^{40}$Ca transverse response function from coupled-cluster theory

TL;DR

This paper calculates the $^{40}$Ca transverse response function using coupled-cluster theory and chiral effective field theory, showing good agreement with experimental data and discussing uncertainties.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of coupled-cluster theory combined with the Lorentz integral transform to compute nuclear response functions for medium-mass nuclei.

Findings

Response functions for $^{40}$Ca agree well with experimental data.

One-body current terms underestimate $^4$He data by 20%.

Method provides a reliable approach for medium-mass nuclei.

Abstract

We present calculations of the $^{40}$Ca transverse response function obtained from coupled-cluster theory used in conjunction with the Lorentz integral transform method. We employ nuclear forces derived at next-to-next-to leading order in chiral effective field theory with and without $\Delta$ degrees of freedom. We first benchmark this approach on the $^4$He nucleus and compare both the transverse sum rule and the response function to earlier calculations based on different methods. As expected from the power counting of the chiral expansion of electromagnetic currents and from previous studies, our results retaining only one-body term underestimate the experimental data for $^4$He by about $20\%$. However, when the method is applied to $^{40}$Ca at the same order of the expansion, response functions do not lack strength and agree well with the world electron scattering data. We discuss various sources of theoretical uncertainties and comment on the comparison of our results with the available experiments.