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Title: Computational methods for the nuclear and neutron matter problems: Progress report

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6390159· OSTI ID:6390159

This proposal is concerned with the use of Monte Carlo methods as a numerical technique in the study of nuclear structure. The straightforward use of Monte Carlo in nuclear physics has been impeded by certain technical difficulties. Foremost among them is the fact that numerical integration of the Schr/umlt o/dinger equation, by now straightforward for the ground state of boson systems, is substantially more difficult for many-fermion systems. The first part of this proposal outlines a synthesis of several advances into a single experimental algorithm. The proposed work is to implement and study the properties of the algorithm with simple models of few-body nuclei as the physical system to be investigated. Variational Monte Carlo remains an extremely powerful and useful method. Its application to nuclear structure physics presents unique difficulties. The varieties of interactions in the phenomenological potentials must be reflected in a corresponding richness of the correlations in accurate trial wave functions. Then the sheer number of terms in such trial fashions written as a product of pairs presents specific difficulties. We have had good success in our first experiments on a random field method that decouples the interactions and propose to extend our research to /sup 16/O and to p-shell nuclei. Spin-orbit terms present special problems as well, because the implied gradient operators must be applied repeatedly. We propose to treat them in first order only, for now, and to calculate the result in three- and four-body nuclei. We propose a new Monte Carlo method for computing the amplitude of deuteron components in trial functions for heavier nuclei (here, specifically for /sup 6/Li). The method is an extension of that used for off-diagonal matrix elements in quantum fluids.

Research Organization:
New York Univ., NY (USA). Courant Inst. of Mathematical Sciences
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-79ER10353
OSTI ID:
6390159
Report Number(s):
DOE/ER/10353-T3; ON: DE89013502
Resource Relation:
Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English