title: Quantum Monte Carlo calculations of light nuclei using chiral potentials.
abstract: We present the first Green's function Monte Carlo calculations of light nuclei with nuclear interactions derived from chiral effective field theory up to next-to-next-to-leading order. Up to this order, the interactions can be constructed in a local form and are therefore amenable to quantum Monte Carlo calculations. We demonstrate a systematic improvement with each order for the binding energies of A=3 and A=4 systems. We also carry out the first few-body tests to study perturbative expansions of chiral potentials at different orders, finding that higher-order corrections are more perturbative for softer interactions. Our results confirm the necessity of a three-body force for correct reproduction of experimental binding energies and radii, and pave the way for studying few- and many-nucleon systems using quantum Monte Carlo methods with chiral interactions.
authors.affiliation: Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Lynn
authors.affiliation: Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Carlson
authors.affiliation: Institut für Theoretische Physik II, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Epelbaum
authors.affiliation: Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gandolfi
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gezerlis
authors.affiliation: Institut für Kernphysik, Technische Universität Darmstadt, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany and ExtreMe Matter Institute EMMI, GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH, 64291 Darmstadt, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schwenk