Time evolution of fermionic systems from first principles
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Surrey
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
Nuclei are minute objects at the center of atoms, formed by several neutrons and protons, bound together by the strong interaction. Elements are defined according to their number of protons, while different isotopes of an element are specified by their number of neutrons. Some combinations of neutrons and protons yield isotopes which are stabler than others. Of the around 3000 isotopes observed so far, only about 280 of them are stable. The rest, unstable (radioactive) nuclei, decay with a characteristic time that shortens significantly as the proton and neutron content of a nucleus moves away from the stable conditions. Several unstable isotopes have actually not been measured yet: some models predict that about 3000 more of them might actually exist. So what does this have to do with us? Even though you might think that such uncommon nuclei have little impact on our world, it turns out that they play a basic role. Exotic isotopes are formed continuously in stars and they are the seeds from which all the remaining nuclei, including the stable ones, are formed. Ultimately, isotope science teaches us about the stuff we are made of. The 2010s are going to be a particularly exciting decade for nuclear physics. Extremely unstable atomic nuclei will be created soon in research laboratories that are being built in France, Germany, Japan or the US as part of a coordinated worldwide effort to reach the limits of nuclear stability. With the valuable experimental data collected in these facilities, theorists like me will be able to understand better how nuclei behave. This is a very challenging task, because quantum physics is involved and everyday intuition often fails when applied to nuclei. As a matter of fact, experience shows that extrapolating from trends of known isotopes is not enough to understand the unfamiliar phenomena occurring in exotic nuclei. Nuclear physics is thus facing an unknown territory, an uncharted area of the isotope chart. As in every exploration, the most advanced technology is required to proceed securely through untraveled lands. For nuclear physics, theoretical models to describe reaction with exotic isotopes need critical improvements. A key issue is predictability: present models are generally based on a series of parameters which are typically derived from stable nuclei. Extending these models to exotic isotopes can introduce uncontrolled errors and undermine the predictive power of theoretical models. An alternative is to try to start from as few ingredients and parameters as possible: only basic constituents (neutrons and protons), the interaction between them and a quantum many-body theory to account for the presence of all the particles in the system. My research proposal is aimed in this direction. Using a quantum mechanical time-dependent approach, I would like to simulate collisions of nuclei directly in the computer, by solving a set of equations that simultaneously describe the structural properties of the isotopes as well as their evolution in time. The non-equilibrium Green's functions techniques that I would like to work on are currently being developed to study other systems (nanodevices, molecules, plasmas), but their broad number of potential applications make them perfect candidates for the description of nuclear collisions. The power of physics lies in its ability to describe very different systems with the same tools. Quantum mechanical time-evolving algorithms, however, are rather challenging from the computational point of view. I will need to develop new numerical techniques and use powerful computers to carry the project on successfully. A particularly curious issue related to Green's functions techniques is that they introduce the so-called memory effects. What this means, in practice, is that the simulated elements need to remember their past in order to project their future: just as we humans should do from time to time!
Organisations
- University of Surrey (Lead Research Organisation)
- University of Chile (Collaboration)
- Technical University of Darmstadt (Collaboration)
- Michigan State University (Collaboration)
- National Institute for Nuclear Physics (Collaboration)
- Washington University in St. Louis (Collaboration)
- University of Barcelona (Collaboration, Fellow)
Publications
Carbone A
(2014)
Correlated density-dependent chiral forces for infinite-matter calculations within the Green's function approach
in Physical Review C
Carbone A
(2014)
Tensor force effects and high-momentum components in the nuclear symmetry energy
in The European Physical Journal A
Carbone A
(2013)
Symmetric nuclear matter with chiral three-nucleon forces in the self-consistent Green's functions approach
in Physical Review C
Carbone A
(2013)
Self-consistent Green's functions formalism with three-body interactions
in Physical Review C
Carbone A
(2012)
High-momentum components in the nuclear symmetry energy
in EPL (Europhysics Letters)
Carbone A
(2011)
Latent heat of nuclear matter
in Physical Review C
Barton M
(2021)
Nuclear ground states in a consistent implementation of the time-dependent density matrix approach
in Physical Review C
Baldo M
(2012)
Comparative study of neutron and nuclear matter with simplified Argonne nucleon-nucleon potentials
in Physical Review C
Atkinson M
(2020)
Reexamining the relation between the binding energy of finite nuclei and the equation of state of infinite nuclear matter
in Physical Review C
Arellano H
(2016)
Di-nucleon structures in homogeneous nuclear matter based on two- and three-nucleon interactions
in The European Physical Journal A
Description | With this award, my team and I were able to study the dynamics of fermionic systems, including nuclei. We developed new methods to study nuclear fission with time-dependent density functional techniques. We also obtained initial results on non-equilibrium Green's functions techniques for first-principles simulations of one-dimensional systems. The latter approach was developed further, but there were some computational hurdles that precluded a full implementation in nuclear systems. |
Exploitation Route | The understanding of fermionic dynamics is of relevance for fields other than nuclear physics, particularly quantum chemistry and molecular physics. Some of the computational algorithms developed to deal with memory in time-dependent simulations are of use in other fields and have recently been employed in quantum computing too. |
Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Education |
Description | Advancing Nuclear Science via Theory and Experiment |
Amount | £1,724,621 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/V001108/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2021 |
End | 09/2024 |
Description | ECT* Workshop Organization Grant - Advances in time-dependent methods for quantum many-body systems 14-18 October 2013 |
Amount | € 8,000 (EUR) |
Organisation | European Center for Theoretical Studies in Nuclear Physics and Related Areas (ECT*) |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | Italy |
Start | 09/2013 |
End | 11/2013 |
Description | ECT* Workshop Organization Grant - Observations and theory in the dynamics of neutron stars 26-30 January 2015 |
Amount | € 5,000 (EUR) |
Organisation | European Center for Theoretical Studies in Nuclear Physics and Related Areas (ECT*) |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | Italy |
Start | 01/2015 |
End | 02/2015 |
Description | Equipment for Theoretical and Experimental Nuclear Physics |
Amount | £33,275 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/N002636/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2015 |
End | 03/2016 |
Description | NewCompStar Workshop Organization Grant - Observations and theory in the dynamics of neutron stars 26-30 January 2015 |
Amount | € 6,000 (EUR) |
Organisation | European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) |
Sector | Public |
Country | Belgium |
Start | 01/2015 |
End | 02/2015 |
Description | Nuclear Physics at the Extremes: Theory & Experiment |
Amount | £2,668,289 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/P005314/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2017 |
End | 09/2024 |
Description | Nuclear Structure and Reactions: Equipment for Theory and Experiment |
Amount | £44,219 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/J000051/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2014 |
End | 03/2014 |
Description | Nuclear Structure and Reactions: Theory and Experiment |
Amount | £1,836,570 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/L005743/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 07/2014 |
End | 09/2018 |
Description | Nuclear Structure and Reactions: Theory and Experiment |
Amount | £2,194,320 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/J000051/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 07/2011 |
End | 07/2015 |
Description | STFC Consolidated Grant |
Amount | £2,543,478 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/P005314/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2017 |
End | 09/2021 |
Description | Santander Bank Staff Travel Scheme |
Amount | £1,600 (GBP) |
Organisation | Santander Bank |
Sector | Private |
Country | United States |
Start | 11/2013 |
End | 12/2013 |
Description | Surrey Institute of Advanced Studies Workshop Organization Grant - "Neutron stars" 29-30 July 2013 |
Amount | £4,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | University of Surrey |
Department | Institute of Advanced Studies |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 06/2013 |
End | 08/2013 |
Description | Michigan State University, Prof. P. Danielewicz |
Organisation | Michigan State University |
Department | National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Development of time-dependent techniques |
Collaborator Contribution | Development of time-dependent techniques |
Impact | One paper being prepared |
Start Year | 2009 |
Description | TU Darmstadt, A. Carbone |
Organisation | Technical University of Darmstadt |
Country | Germany |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | A. Carbone was my PhD student and is now a postdoc at TU Darmstadt, where she carries on with PhD-related research topics. |
Collaborator Contribution | A. Carbone was my PhD student and is now a postdoc at TU Darmstadt, where she carries on with PhD-related research topics. |
Impact | Published articles in field journals (see publications list) |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | Universidad de Chile |
Organisation | University of Chile |
Department | Department of Physics |
Country | Chile |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Work on Brueckner-Hartree-Fock theory to describe dineutron states in neutron matter. |
Collaborator Contribution | Work on Brueckner-Hartree-Fock theory to describe dineutron states in neutron matter. |
Impact | http://arxiv.org/abs/1602.05234 |
Start Year | 2013 |
Description | University of Barcelona, Prof. Arturo Polls |
Organisation | University of Barcelona |
Country | Spain |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Training of a PhD student there |
Collaborator Contribution | Training of PhD candidate Arianna Carbone |
Impact | Papers and PhD thesis |
Start Year | 2009 |
Description | University of Milano, X. Roca-Maza |
Organisation | National Institute for Nuclear Physics |
Department | National Institute for Nuclear Physics - Milano |
Country | Italy |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Started research project on error propagation in nuclear EDF |
Collaborator Contribution | Started research project on error propagation in nuclear EDF |
Impact | Proceedings submitted. More papers to come. |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | Washington University of St Louis, Prof. W. H. Dickhoff |
Organisation | Washington University in St Louis |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Calculations of SCGF in inifinite matter |
Collaborator Contribution | Pairing calculations using input provided by Surrey |
Impact | Paper to be submitted. Previous work already submitted. |
Start Year | 2009 |
Description | Daresbury workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Type Of Presentation | Workshop Facilitator |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | 20 researchers attended the meeting. Papers and collaboration started. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
URL | http://personal.ph.surrey.ac.uk/~m01088/IoP_correlations/ |
Description | ISNET workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Type Of Presentation | Workshop Facilitator |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | 19-20 August 2013 Collaboration papers and topical journal edition. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
URL | http://indico.cern.ch/event/253381/ |
Description | IoP Talk (South Central Branch, Guildford) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Type Of Presentation | Paper Presentation |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Outreach of neutron star physics to wide audience. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
Description | Neutron Star Workshop, July 2013 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Type Of Presentation | Workshop Facilitator |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | 60 participants in a research workshop. Papers published. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
URL | http://personal.ph.surrey.ac.uk/~m01088/IAS/ |
Description | Observations and Theory in the dynamics of neutron stars - Research Workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Research workshop at European Center for Theoretical Studies on Nuclear Physics. I was one of the co-organisers, and presented my own research results. Discussions sparked a variety of publications in the neutron star community. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | https://sites.google.com/site/ectworkshopns2015/ |
Description | School Research Talk (Reed's School) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | 60 pupils attended a talk on "Neutron Stars" as part of their annual "Science Talk" at Reed's Independent School (Cobham, Surrey). Questions and discussion after the talk. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | TEDx Surrey Event "Redefining the ordinary" |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Talk given at TEDx event at Surrey. YouTube video of talk has been viewed 2000+ times. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1Kml3zuTco&feature=youtu.be&list=PLe0_9oxbi_ScqzzqDgsi16g6vMSmJiL2T |
Description | Time-dependent methods Workshop (ECT*) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Type Of Presentation | workshop facilitator |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | 40 researchers attended a meeting on time-dependent methods in nuclear physics and related areas. Various research papers. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
URL | http://personal.ph.surrey.ac.uk/~m01088/ECT/ECT_Workshop/Workshop.html |
Description | University of Surrey outreach event, Why do gravitational waves matter |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | General talk (as a part of 4 physics talks) on impact of the gravitational wave discovery announced on February 2016. Lecture to general audience from the Guildford area. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |