CAREER: Large-Scale Theoretical Capabilities for Exploring the Limits of Nuclear Stability

该项目将发展新的理论能力，以理解和预测生活在核稳定边缘的外来核的性质，并在剧烈的天体物理事件（如超新星）中发挥重要作用。奇异核，其特征是质子与中子比的巨大不平衡，寿命很短，并通过表现出新的涌现现象放大了核力的鲜为人知的方面。目前，一个将量子色动力学与原子核性质联系起来的综合理论仍然缺失。在接下来的十年里，稀有同位素束设施（FRIB）将首次在核图表中未开发的富含中子的部分产生数千种新同位素，并提供大量新数据，这将需要大量的理论支持。该项目将解决目前理论与实验之间的脱节，并通过关键的理论进展推进我们对原子核的理解。该项目更广泛的影响涉及利用综合教育和研究活动培养研究生和本科生。PI通过佛罗里达州立大学组织的夏令营向当地高中生进行推广也是该项目不可或缺的一部分。具体而言，开放量子系统的密度矩阵重整化群方法将扩展到系统地测试轻奇异核中的核力，并改进更大系统中的预测；利用中相似重整化群方法，提出了一种新的从头算方法，以扩展从头算方法对奇异中质量核的预测能力；利用有效场论框架，从核壳模型图像出发，研究外来核中的多体共振和突现现象。如果这项研究取得成功，将为研究奇异核的物理学提供新的有价值的见解，并有助于指导FRIB和相关设施的实验。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project will develop new theoretical capabilities to understand and predict the properties of exotic nuclei living at the edges of nuclear stability and playing an important role in violent astrophysical events such as supernovae. Exotic nuclei, characterized by large imbalances in their proton-to-neutron ratios, are short-lived and magnify less known aspects of nuclear forces by exhibiting new emergent phenomena. Currently, a comprehensive theory of the atomic nucleus connecting quantum chromodynamics to their properties is still missing. In the coming decade, the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) will produce for the first time thousands of new isotopes in the unexplored neutron-rich part of the nuclear chart and provide a trove of new data, which will require enormous theoretical support. This project will address the current disconnect between theory and experiment and advance our understanding of atomic nuclei through key theoretical advances. The broader impacts of this project concern the training of graduate and undergraduate students using integrated education and research activities. Outreach by the PI to local high school students through a summer camp organized at Florida State University is also integral to the project. Specifically, the density matrix renormalization group method for open quantum systems will be extended to systematically test nuclear forces in light exotic nuclei and improve predictions in larger systems; a new ab initio method exploiting the in-medium similarity renormalization group method will be devised to extend the predictive power of ab initio methods in exotic medium-mass nuclei explored by the FRIB; and the effective field theory framework will be used to study many- body resonances and emergent phenomena in exotic nuclei from the nuclear shell model picture. If successful, this research will provide new and valuable insight into the physics of exotic nuclei, and help guide experiments at the FRIB and related facilities.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.