A Guided Tour of Ab Initio Nuclear Many-Body Theory

Abstract

Over the last decade, new developments in Similarity Renormalization Group techniques and nuclear many-body methods have dramatically increased the capabilities of ab initio nuclear structure and reaction theory. Ground and excited-state properties can be computed up to the tin region, and from the proton to the presumptive neutron drip lines, providing unprecedented opportunities to confront two- plus three-nucleon interactions from chiral Effective Field Theory with experimental data. In this contribution, I will give a broad survey of the current status of nuclear many-body approaches, and I will use selected results to discuss both achievements and open issues that need to be addressed in the coming decade.

39 pages + references (58 pages total), 15 figures, to be published in Frontiers in Physics as a contribution to the Research Topic "The Future of Nuclear Structure: Challenges and Opportunities in the Microscopic Description of Nuclei"