Related papers: Nuclear binding near a quantum phase transition
How does nuclear binding emerge from first principles? Our current best understanding of nuclear forces is based on a systematic low-energy expansion called chiral effective field theory. However, recent {\it ab initio} calculations of…
Nuclei are prototypes of many-body open quantum systems. Complex aggregates of protons and neutrons that interact through forces arising from quantum chromo-dynamics, nuclei exhibit both bound and unbound states, which can be strongly…
A nucleus is a quantum many body system made of strongly interacting Fermions, protons and neutrons (nucleons). This produces a rich Nuclear Equation of State whose knowledge is crucial to our understanding of the composition and evolution…
In their ground states, atomic nuclei are quantum Fermi liquids. At finite temperatures and low densities, these nuclei may undergo a phase change similar to, but substantially different from, a classical liquid gas phase transition. As in…
The onset of quartetting, i.e. alpha-particle condensation, in symmetric nuclear matter is studied with the help of an in-medium modified four nucleon equation. It is found that at very low density quartetting wins over pairing, because of…
Atomic nuclei are quantum many-body systems of protons and neutrons held together by strong nuclear forces. Under the proper conditions, nuclei can break into two (sometimes three) fragments which will subsequently decay by emitting…
In the last years, chiral effective field theory has been successfully developed for and applied to systems with few nucleons. Here, I present a new approach for ab initio calculations of nuclei that combines these precise and systematic…
Experimental nuclear level densities at excitation energies below the neutron threshold follow closely a constant-temperature shape. This dependence is unexpected and poorly understood. In this work, a fundamental explanation of the…
We discuss experimental evidence for a nuclear phase transition driven by the different concentration of neutrons to protons. Different ratios of the neutron to proton concentrations lead to different critical points for the phase…
Nucleonic matter displays a quantum liquid structure, but in some cases finite nuclei behave like molecules composed of clusters of protons and neutrons. Clustering is a recurrent feature in light nuclei, from beryllium to nickel. For…
Nuclear clustering describes the appearance of structures resembling smaller nuclei such as alpha particles (4He nuclei) within the interior of a larger nucleus. While clustering is important for several well-known examples, much remains to…
Quantum Monte Carlo methods have proved very valuable to study the structure and reactions of light nuclei and nucleonic matter starting from realistic nuclear interactions and currents. These ab-initio calculations reproduce many low-lying…
The equation of state and phase diagram of isospin-symmetric chemically equilibrated mixture of alpha particles and nucleons are studied in the mean-field approximation. The model takes into account the effects of Fermi and Bose statistics…
We study the early evolution of the electron fraction (or, alternatively, the neutron-to-proton ratio) in the region above the hot proto-neutron star formed after a supernova explosion. We study the way in which the electron fraction in…
Nuclear Lattice Effective Field Theory is a new many-body approach that is firmly rooted in the symmetries of QCD. In particular, it allows for truly ab initio calculations of nuclear structure and reactions. In this talk, I focus on the…
Nuclear quantum effects, such as zero-point energy and tunneling, cause significant changes to the structure and dynamics of hydrogen bonded systems such as liquid water. However, due to the current inability to simulate liquid water using…
The Bose-Einstein condensation of $\alpha$ partciles in the multicomponent environment of dilute, warm nuclear matter is studied. We consider the cases of matter composed of light clusters with mass numbers $A\leq 4$ and matter that in…
One of the most remarkable results of quantum mechanics is the fact that many-body quantum systems may exhibit phase transitions even at zero temperature. Quantum fluctuations, deeply rooted in Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, and not…
The broad range of accumulated experimental data on the binding energies for single-particle states in nuclei is examined as a function of the constituent number of neutrons and protons and an unexpectedly simple pattern emerges. The…
In supernova cores, nuclear "pasta" phases such as triangular lattice of rod-like nuclei and layered structure of slab-like nuclei are considered to exist. However, it is still unclear whether or not they are actually formed in collapsing…