Quantifying uncertainties in α-nucleus reaction dynamics informed from first principles

Abstract

The ab initio symmetry-adapted no-core shell model is a microscopic many-body method which naturally describes challenging collective and clustering features of atomic nuclei. Wave functions and observables computed with realistic nucleon-nucleon forces in this framework are tied to first principles, and are hence well-suited for rigorous uncertainty quantification. We discuss α-deuteron and α-¹²C cluster potentials informed by symmetry-adapted calculations, and propagate uncertainties in the effective binary cluster method as well as those in the nuclear interaction to reaction observables, namely scattering phase shifts, cross sections, partial widths and resonance energies. We find that the overall uncertainties are dominated by those originating in the underlying nuclear force, speaking to the need for tighter constraints on realistic nucleon-nucleon interactions.