This U.S.-Lithuania Cooperative Research award is for a project on "Techniques for Performing Microscopic Nuclear Structure Calculations" between Dr. Bruce R. Barrett of the University of Arizona, for the U.S. side, and, for the Lithuanian side, Dr. Ramutis Kalinauskas of the Institute of Physics in Vilnius, and Dr. Gintautas Kamuntavicius of Vytaytas Magnus University in Kaunas. A major goal in nuclear physics is to understand how nuclear binding, stability and structure arise from the underlying interactions between individual nucleons. For many years, it has been feasible to calculate exactly only three- and four-body nuclei with realistic nucleon-nucleon (NN) interactions. Recently, several new NN potentials, such as the Nijmegen, the Argonne V18 and CD-Bonn, have been constructed. They fit the world data for pp and np scattering below 350 MeV with high precision and yield a x2/datum of about 1. Due to advances in computing resources, it is now possible to apply such NN interactions in large-basis No-core Shell-model and Quantum Monte Carlo calculations to study the properties of light p-shell nuclei. Such calculations for the A = 6 and 7 nuclei, including all the observed low-lying excitations, have been reported. In these works, it is possible to see nuclear-shell structure emanating from a microscopic interaction that fits NN scattering data. To describe and predict nuclear-structure properties in a similar manner for larger A nuclei will require much more theoretical work. the goal of the proposed project is to develop modifications to the existing calculational methods, so that they may be used for investigating heavier-mass nuclei.
This research in theoretical nuclear physics fulfills the program objectives of bringing together leading experts in the U.S. and Lithuania to combine complementary efforts and capabilities in areas of strong mutual interest and competence on the basis of equality, reciprocity, and mutuality of benefit.
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