We present calculations of nuclear level densities that are based upon the detailed microphysics of the interacting shell model yet are also computationally tractable. To do this, we combine in a novel fashion several previously disparate ideas from statistical spectroscopy, namely partitioning of the model space into subspaces, analytic calculations of moments up to fourth order directly from ...

Recent developments in nuclear theory allow us to make a connection between quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and low-energy nuclear physics. First, chiral effective field theory (χEFT) provides a natural hierarchy to define two-nucleon (NN), three-nucleon (NNN), and even four-nucleon interactions. Second, ab initio methods have been developed capable to test these interactions for light nuclei. In ...

— An overview of the ab initio no-core shell model is presented. Recent results for light nuclei obtained with the chiral two-nucleon and three-nucleon interactions are highlighted. Cross section calculations of capture reactions important for astrophysics are discussed. The extension of the ab initio no-core shell model to the description of nuclear reactions by the resonating group method tec...

The calculation of a statistical measure of complexity and the Fisher-Shannon information in nuclei is carried out in this work. We use the nuclear shell model in order to obtain the fractional occupation probabilities of nuclear orbitals. The increasing of both magnitudes, the statistical complexity and the Fisher-Shannon information, with the number of nucleons is observed. The shell structur...

The pairing contribution to the odd-even oscillations in the nuclear binding energies is considered in the framework on the nuclear shell model. Schematic and realistic Hamiltonians are used to understand the trends related to pairing and shell gaps. Detailed results are shown and discussed for the calcium isotopes. Results are also shown for carbon, oxygen and neon as well as the overall trend...

Charge-density distributions and the associated nuclear radii are calculated with the Hartree-Fock method for comparison with available data from electron scattering. Two forms of Skyrme interactions are used for the calculations. As a further refinement the single-particle occupancies are constrained to values obtained from shell-model calculations. A significant improvement in the agreement i...

Topics related to the construction, phenomenological determination, and effects of the effective three-body forces within the traditional nuclear shell model approach are discussed. The manifestations of the three-body forces in realistic nuclei in the 0f7/2 and 1s0d shell model valence spaces are explored.

This article examines the role of the liquid drop analogy in George Gamow’s theory of nuclear structure and his subsequent derivation of nuclear energy. It argues that the correspondences constituting the analogy served distinct but cooperative ends, requiring Gamow to posit a relatively simple nuclear geometry that set him apart from his contemporaries, mostly shell theorists, and led to his s...

I review recent developments in the application of effective field theory to nuclear physics. Emphasis is placed on precision two-body calculations and efforts to formulate the nuclear shell model in terms of an effective field theory.