MSCA Project
The understanding of astrophysical events necessitates a detailed understanding of the reactions processes between atomic nuclei. In particular, those transient nuclei are different from the stable, terrestrial elements. Recent experimental insights with the advent of radioactive ion beam (RIB) facilities, which allowed access to more exotic, unstable nuclei, have shaken our understanding of how atomic nuclei behave. So-called magic numbers of protons and neutrons, for which nuclei exhibit an increased stability, change as nuclei get more exotic. Some nuclei are unexpectedly large, displaying so-called halos, to the point that the 11Li nucleus is as large as 208Pb. Well-established phenomenological fail at addressing these unconventional systems because they lack sound extrapolation capacities and built-in uncertainty quantification. In contrast, recently-developed ab initio methods relying on a systematic formalism that eventually allows for full uncertainty quantification have lately become a standard for nuclear theory.
For nuclear structure and the description of relatively stable atomic nuclei, ab initio methods are well established up to and above mid-mass nuclei (𝐴~60). However, for what concerns either weakly-bound, very unstable nuclei or reactions, where nuclei and nucleons interact at large distances, requiring a very fine-tuned description of nuclear properties, the reach of ab initio methods is presently limited to light-mass systems (𝐴 < 12). Nevertheless, the weakly-bound to unbound light-mass states (that is, close to or in the continuum, where energy does not necessarily take specific, set values any more) are now being explored by experimentalists, and the new generation RIB facilities under construction or operational such as FRIB, USA will tackle heavier, medium-mass species, requiring new theoretical effort. Opening the mid-mass region to ab initio methods specifically able to treat bound states and reaction alike is the goal of this Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action.
We will use the present page to advertise the main achievements of this scientific projects over the next few years.