Ryan Curry - PhD Defence

Microscopic Nuclear Physics with Quantum Monte Carlo: Perturbation, Discretization, and Emulation

Abstract

We explore the work of three distinct projects which all aim to push forward the study of the nuclear many-body problem with quantum Monte Carlo methods. We first explore how quantum Monte Carlo methods and stationary perturbation theory can be combined in order to carry out perturbative quantum Monte Carlo calculations up to second order. We apply this formalism to study the perturbative inclusion of nonlocal operators from chiral effective field theory interactions and to study the order-by-order convergence of the chiral expansion. We also discuss novel investigations into low-density nuclear and cold-atomic systems with a quantum Monte Carlo approach cast on a lattice. Finally, we discuss a framework for quantum Monte Carlo calculations of light nuclei with two- and three-nucleon interactions from chiral effective field theory, that employs Bayesian statistics and emulators in order to produce ab initio predictions with a robust statistical interpretation and properly quantified theoretical uncertainties.

Examination Committee

• Dr. Robert Wickham, Chair
• Dr. Alexandros Gezerlis, Advisor
• Dr. Eric Poisson, Advisory Committee
• Dr. Carl Svensson, Graduate Faculty
• Dr. Alessandro Roggero, External Examiner (University of Trento)