Ab initio theory of light nuclei

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Atomic nuclei are quantum many-body systems made by protons and neutrons interacting with forces that originate from the fundamental theory of Quantum Chromo-dynamics. The exact treatment of nuclei starting from the constituent nucleons and the inter-nucleon interactions among them has been a long-standing goal in nuclear physics. The objective of this project is to develop a predictive ab initio theory of nuclear structure and nuclear reactions for light nuclei. Such a theory is needed for the understanding of exotic nuclei investigated at rare isotope facilities like ISAC at TRIUMF, for the understanding of nuclear reactions important for astrophysics that are hard or impossible to measure at the low energies at which they occur in the Cosmos, as well as for the study of fusion reactions important for the future energy generation. At the same time, it provides a feedback on the quality of inter-nucleon iteractions used as input to these calculations and ultimately helps to improve our knowledge of the nucleon-nucleon interaction, and in particular of the still not completely understood three-nucleon interaction. In this proposal, we combine an ab nitio nuclear structure approach capable to describe bound states of light nuclei with a microscopic cluster method developed to describe reactions of nuclear clusters. The resulting method provides a unified description of both bound and unbound nuclear states starting from inter-nucleon interactions among protons and neutrons. Postdoctoral researchers, graduate students as well as undergraduate students will contribute to this project. The success of this proposal has a potential strong scientific impact on the international nuclear theory community. It will strengthen the Canadian efforts in nuclear theory and contribute to the education of future Canadian physicists.