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Nuclear Theory·nucl-th

Friday·February 6, 2026

7 papers—4 primary·3 cross-listed

All7Primary4Cross-lists3
  1. 01

    [Submitted on 4 Feb 2026]

    Neglecting correlations leads to misestimated model errors in EFT predictions

    Nathan L. Carter · Richard J. Furnstahl · Jordan A. Melendez · Daniel R. Phillips

    Bayesian analyses of the convergence pattern of Effective Field Theories (EFTs) enable estimation of the uncertainty induced by a truncated expansion. When an EFT that has been calibrated to data is used to make a prediction this truncation uncertainty enters the posterior predictive distribution twice: directly from the finite-order calculation of the predicted quantity and indirectly through the posterior probability distributions of the EFT low-energy constants (LECs) determined by the calibration. In this work, we focus on the interplay of these two sources of uncertainty. We do this in the context of a toy EFT that we fit to pseudodata and use to make predictions. Direct EFT truncation uncertainty and LEC uncertainty are correlated in predictions when the predicted quantity is correlated with the observables used to fit the LECs. Here this results in the overall theoretical uncertainty in the EFT prediction being smaller than either the uncertainty induced by the truncation error or that stemming from the LECs alone.

    Comments:
    13 pages, 5 figures, code available at https://github.com/Nathanc7525-gwu/ModelErrorOverestimation
    Subjects:
    Nuclear Theory (nucl-th); High Energy Physics — Phenomenology (hep-ph); Nuclear Experiment (nucl-ex)
    arXiv:
    2602.05086 [pdf]
    1 citation
  2. 02

    [Submitted on 5 Feb 2026]

    Decay of three-body resonances in a discrete basis

    J. Casal · J. Gómez-Camacho

    We present a theoretical framework for calculating the asymptotic properties and decay dynamics of three-body resonances described in a discrete basis. The method involves solving an inhomogeneous Schrödinger equation to determine the non-normalizable resonant state by identifying a normalizable source state, which captures the short-range internal structure. The long-range behavior is then calculated using the free three-body propagator, providing accurate asymptotic coefficients necessary for describing decay correlations. We apply this formalism to the two-neutron decay of the 0 ground-state and the 2 excited-state resonances of (), working within the hyperspherical expansion method with an analytical transformed harmonic oscillator basis. Our results show that the decay is strongly dominated by the lowest hypermomentum components at large separations, reflecting effective three-body barrier penetration dynamics that shape the final state. The calculated relative-energy distributions exhibit clear neutron-neutron correlations for both states, arising from mixing between different asymptotic channels, and are consistent with a direct two-neutron emission mechanism, in agreement with recent experimental observations. This work provides a reliable tool for linking the internal structure of three-body resonances to their decay properties.

    Comments:
    12 pages, 6 figures
    Subjects:
    Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)
    arXiv:
    2602.05422 [pdf]
    PRC(2026)·0 citations
  3. 03

    [Submitted on 5 Feb 2026]

    Three-body Effect in Short-range Correlations

    H. Y. Shang · R. Z. Hu · X. Y. Xu · Z. C. Xu · J. C. Pei · S. M. Wang

    Short-range correlations (SRCs) provide the link between low- and high-energy nuclear physics and can be quantified by two-nucleon densities. We present calculations of the two-nucleon densities using free-space similarity renormalization group (SRG)-evolved operators and in-medium SRG (IMSRG) ground states with softend chiral interaction. Our calculations benchmark well against no-core shell model (NCSM) results with unevolved oparetors and Hamiltonians in . We explicitly include the induced three-body (3b) density operators for the first time which, together with the 3b Hamiltonians, provide the full 3b effects. We show pronounced 3b effects in the two-nucleon densities. Combined with valence-space IMSRG (VS-IMSRG) method, we extend the calculation to the oxygen isotopic chain. This approach enables a consistent \textit{ab initio} description of low-energy properties and SRCs within one framework and offers predictions for the upcoming SRC measurements in unstable nuclei.

    Subjects:
    Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)
    arXiv:
    2602.05678 [pdf]
    PRC(2026)·1 citation
  4. 04

    [Submitted on 5 Feb 2026]

    Mesoscopic chemical potentials across the (hyper)nuclear landscape

    Jacquelyn Noronha-Hostler🇺🇸

    Finite nuclei constrain the dense-matter equation of state (EOS), yet they are self-bound quantum droplets far from the thermodynamic limit. Motivated by an analogy to quantum dots, we show that the nuclear chart nevertheless defines a mesoscopic regime in which mesoscopic chemical-potential analogs can be extracted directly from nuclear and hypernuclear binding energies after consistent Coulomb subtraction. These are discrete finite-difference response functions -- local slopes of the strong-interaction energy landscape -- not equilibrium grand-canonical chemical potentials. The nuclear chart itself supplies an "ensemble of nearby droplets": finite differences across neighboring nuclei suppress shell- and pairing-scale oscillations while retaining the smooth bulk trend, producing robust slopes without a macroscopic limit. Thus, the data provide empirical local derivatives that any strangeness-enabled EOS must reproduce near saturation. Mapping the measured (hyper)nuclear landscape at , we find smooth, numerically stable responses, including a large, negative strangeness chemical-potential analog, and we identify specific hypernuclear measurements that can directly test and sharpen these EOS constraints.

    Comments:
    17 pages, 14 figures
    Subjects:
    Nuclear Theory (nucl-th); High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE); Nuclear Experiment (nucl-ex)
    arXiv:
    2602.05824 [pdf]
    2 citations

Affiliations

first authorsco-authorsvia INSPIRE