Shell model Monte Carlo methods

Feb, 1996
85 pages
Published in:
  • Phys.Rept. 278 (1997) 1-77
e-Print:

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1997200420112018202505101520
Abstract:
We review quantum Monte Carlo methods for dealing with large shell model problems. These methods reduce the imaginary-time many-body evolution operator to a coherent superposition of one-body evolutions in fluctuating one-body fields; the resultant path integral is evaluated stochastically. We first discuss the motivation, formalism, and implementation of such Shell Model Monte Carlo (SMMC) methods. There then follows a sampler of results and insights obtained from a number of applications. These include the ground state and thermal properties of {\it pf}-shell nuclei, the thermal and rotational behavior of rare-earth and γ\gamma-soft nuclei, and the calculation of double beta-decay matrix elements. Finally, prospects for further progress in such calculations are discussed.