Chiral two- and three-nucleon forces along medium-mass isotope chains

Abstract

Ab initio calculations have shown that chiral two- and three-nucleon interactions correctly reproduce binding energy systematics and neutron drip lines of oxygen and nearby isotopes. Exploiting the novel Gorkov-Green's function approach applicable to genuinely open-shell nuclei, we present the first $ab$ initio investigation of Ar, K, Ca, Sc, and Ti isotopic chains. In doing so, stringent tests of internucleon interaction models are provided in the medium-mass region of the nuclear chart. Leading chiral three-nucleon interactions are shown to be mandatory to reproduce the trend of binding energies throughout these chains and to obtain a good description of two-neutron separation energies. At the same time, nuclei in this mass region are systematically overbound by about 40 MeV. While the fundamental $N=20$ and 28 magic numbers do emerge from basic internucleon interactions, the former is shown to be significantly overestimated, which points to deficiencies of state-of-the-art chiral potentials. The present results demonstrate that ab initio many-body calculations can now access entire medium-mass isotopic chains including degenerate open-shell nuclei and provide a critical testing ground for modern theories of nuclear interactions.