Nuclear Physics from First Principles and the Role of High Performance Computing
| Date/Time: | Thursday, 15 Sep 2016 from 4:10 pm to 5:00 pm |
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| Location: | Physics 18/19 |
| Contact: | Gloria Oberender |
| Phone: | 515-294-5441 |
| Channel: | College of Liberal Arts and Sciences |
| Actions: | Download iCal/vCal | Email Reminder |
State-of-the-art two- and three-nucleon interactions obtained from chiral effective field theory provide a theoretical foundation for nuclear theory with controlled approximations. We expect these interactions to provide breakthroughs in solving long-standing fundamental problems such as the emergence of the nuclear shell model and of nuclear collective motion from the underlying strong interactions. If successful, we will have what might be called a "standard model" of the nuclear strong interaction. However, these interactions, while holding promise for a new era of predictive theory, also present major challenges for obtaining non-perturbative solutions that avoid uncontrolled approximations. These challenges
motivate "ab initio" simulations of nuclear properties on the world's largest computers. I will discuss leading physics challenges, strategies for developing and optimizing an ab initio nuclear structure code and present results that characterize recent advances in this frontier research area.