Spin-orbit decomposition of ab initio wavefunctions

Abstract

Although the modern shell-model picture of atomic nuclei is built from single-particle orbits with good total angular momentum $j$, leading to $j$-$j$ coupling, phenomenological models suggested decades ago that for $0p$-shell nuclides a simpler picture can be realized via coupling of total spin $S$ and total orbital angular momentum $L$. I revisit this idea with large-basis, no-core shell model (NCSM) calculations using modern \textit{ab initio} two-body interactions, and dissect the resulting wavefunctions into their component $L$- and $S$-components. Remarkably, there is broad agreement with calculations using the phenomenological Cohen-Kurath forces, despite a gap of nearly fifty years and six orders of magnitude in basis dimensions. I suggest $L$-$S$ may be a useful tool for analyzing \textit{ab initio} wavefunctions of light nuclei, for example in the case of rotational bands.

14 pages, 14 figures

References in corpus (5)

• Similarity Renormalization Group for Nucleon-Nucleon Interactions
• Structure of A=10-13 nuclei with two- plus three-nucleon interactions from chiral effective field theory
• Evolution of Nuclear Many-Body Forces with the Similarity Renormalization Group
• Emergence of rotational bands in ab initio no-core configuration interaction calculations of the Be isotopes
• ${}^{12}$C properties with evolved chiral three-nucleon interactions

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Symmetry-guided large-scale shell-model theory