Coupled-cluster calculations for valence systems around O-16

Abstract

We study the ground and low-lying excited states of O-15, O-17, N-15, and F-17 using modern two-body nucleon-nucleon interactions and the suitably designed variants of the ab initio equation-of-motion coupled-cluster theory aimed at an accurate description of systems with valence particles and holes. A number of properties of O-15, O-17, N-15, and F-17, including ways the energies of ground and excited states of valence systems around O-16 change as functions of the number of nucleons, are correctly reproduced by the equation-of-motion coupled-cluster calculations. Within a harmonic oscillator basis and large effective model spaces, our results are converged for the chosen two-body Hamiltonians. Thus, all disagreements with experiment are, most likely, due to the degrees of freedom such as three-body interactions not accounted for in our effective two-body Hamiltonians. In particular, the calculated binding energies of O-15/N-15 and O-17/F-17 enable us to rationalize the discrepancy between the experimental and recently published [Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 212501 (2005)] equation-of-motion coupled-cluster excitation energies for the Jpi=3- state of O-16. The results demonstrate the feasibility of the equation-of-motion coupled-cluster methods to deal with valence systems around closed-shell nuclei and to provide precise results for systems beyond A=16.