Speaker
Description
One of the recently developed approaches capable of describing both bound and scattering states in light nuclei simultaneously is the No-Core Shell Model with Continuum (NCSMC). This technique represents a state-of-the-art $ab \; initio$ approach and combines the No-Core Shell Model (NCSM) description of short-range correlations with the clustering and scattering properties of the Resonating Group Method. Recent NCSMC calculations of the exotic structure of the $^9$He nucleus will be presented. The properties of this system were investigated by analyzing the $n+^8$He continuum and using chiral interactions as the only input. Our analysis produced an unbound $^9$He nucleus with two resonant states found above the $n+^8$He breakup threshold. In particular, no positive parity ground state was found, indicating the break-up of the parity-inversion mechanism found in the $^{11}$Be and $^{10}$Li nuclei of the same $N=7$ isotonic chain. Finally, recent calculations for elastic proton-nucleus scattering will be presented too. The differential cross section and the analyzing power for several light target nuclei were computed using a microscopic optical potential constructed from new $ab \; initio$ nonlocal densities obtained within the NCSM framework.
