Ab initio study in the island of inversion within the two-major-shell valence space
We present an ab initio study of nuclear structure in the island of inversion around neutron number N = 20 , using multishell effective Hamiltonians derived from the valence-space in-medium similarity renormalization group approach combined with the quantum-number projected generator coordinate method. By progressively expanding the valence space from the sd shell to the intermediate sdf 7/2 p 3/2 space and, for the first time, to the full sdfp shell, we investigate low-lying spectra, E 2 transition strengths, deformation properties, and neutron occupancies in even-even Ne, Mg, and Si isotopes around N = 20 . Our results show that enlarging the valence space significantly improves the description of quadrupole collectivity, yielding better agreement with experimental data for key observables such as the lowered 2 + energies and the enhanced B ( E 2 ; 0 1 + → 2 1 + ) values. The analysis reveals the critical role of cross-shell multi-particle multi-hole excitations in breaking the N = 20 shell closure and establishing intruder-dominated ground states. It also demonstrates the ability of the VS-IMSRG+PGCM framework to capture both dynamical (short range) and static (long range) correlations across multiple major-oscillator shells.
Authors
- Xinlin Cao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-1752-9590)
- C. F. Jiao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5292-5158)
Institutions
- Sun Yat-sen University (CN)
- Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou) (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physics Letters B
- Published
- 2025-11-20
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2025.140034
- Primary Topic
- Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00