Radiative capture and decays in ab initio nuclear theory
department or school: Science, Faculty of
department or school: Physics and Astronomy, Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Gysbers, Peter
issued: 2023-03-29T23:19:12Z
issued: 2023
related degree: Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Atomic nuclei exhibit many phenomena not limited to excited states, decays, reactions, and clustering. Nuclear processes control the evolution of stars and explain the abundances of chemical elements in the universe. Nuclear physics can be used to answer fundamental questions about underlying particle physics and cosmology, such as the symmetry between matter and antimatter or the nature of neutrinos. The discrepancy between theoretical predictions and observations motivates improved theory and can provide evidence for new physics. A predictive model of nuclei is needed as input for experimental tests and for astrophysical models. Nuclei are complex strongly-interacting quantum many-body systems. Accurate the- oretical techniques are required to predict the rate of nuclear decay processes, the cross section of nuclear reactions and the distribution of the emitted particles. Ab initio nuclear theory takes advantage of the recent rapid increase in computing power to calculate nuclear structure and reactions solely from realistic interactions between the constituent nucleons. In this thesis, we first present beta-decay calculations using the ab initio no-core shell model. Our calculations provide an explanation for the quenching of Gamow-Teller beta- decays, provide nuclear structure corrections to the beta-spectrum necessary to interpret experiments seeking to find new physics and provide estimates for the hypothetical process of neutrinoless double-beta decay. Second, we present radiative capture calculations using the no-core shell model with continuum, an extension which places bound and scattering states on equal footing. The rate of radiative capture reactions in big bang nucleosynthesis is required to estimate the abundance of isotopes in the early universe. In addition, anomalies in recent radiative capture experiments claim the discovery of a new boson. Comparing to these experiments requires prediction of the distribution of electron-positron pairs produced b…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/84112
note: Radiative Capture and Decays in Ab Initio Nuclear TheorybyPeter GysbersB.Sc., McMaster University, 2017a thesis submitted in partial fulfillmentof the requirements for the degree ofDoctor of Philosophyinthe faculty of graduate and postdoctoral studies(Physics)The University of British Columbia(Vancouver)March 2023© Peter Gysbers, 2023The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty ofGraduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the thesis entitled:Radiative Capture and Decays in Ab Initio Nuclear Theorysubmitted by Peter Gysbers in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree ofDoctor of Philosophy in Physics.Examining Committee:Petr Navra´til, Research Scientist, TRIUMFCo-supervisorReiner Kruecken, Adjunct Professor, Physics and Astronomy, UBCCo-supervisorMark Thachuk, Professor, Chemistry, UBCUniversity ExaminerJoanna Karczmarek, Professor, Physics and Astronomy, UBCUniversity ExaminerMona Berciu, Professor, Physics and Astronomy, UBCSupervisory Committee MemberAdditional Supervisory Committee Members:Rob Kiefl, Professor, Physics and Astronomy, UBCSupervisory Committee MemberFei Zhou, Professor, Physics and Astronomy, UBCSupervisory Commitee MemberiiAbstractAtomic nuclei exhibit many phenomena not limited to excited states, decays, reactions,and clustering. Nuclear processes control the evolution of stars and explain the abundancesof chemical elements in the universe. Nuclear physics can be used to answer fundamentalquestions about underlying particle physics and cosmology, such as the symmetry betweenmatter and antimatter or the nature of neutrinos. The discrepancy between theoreticalpredictions and observations motivates improved theory and can provide evidence for newphysics. A predictive model of nuclei is needed as input for experimental tests and forastrophysical models.Nuclei are complex strongly-interacting quantum many-body systems. Accurate the-oretical techniques are required to predict the rate of nucl…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2023-05
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0428826
language: eng
degree discipline: Physics
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Navrátil, Petr
contributor: Kruecken, Reiner
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/84112