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Muon Capture In Nuclei: An Ab Initio Approach Based On Green's Function Monte Carlo Methods, A. Lovato, N. Rocco, Rocco Schiavilla

Physics Faculty Publications

An ab initio Green’s function Monte Carlo (GFMC) method is introduced for calculating total rates of muon weak capture in light nuclei with mass number A ≤ 12. As a first application of the method, we perform a calculation of the rate in ³H and ⁴He in a dynamical framework based on realistic two- and three-nucleon interactions and realistic nuclear charge-changing weak currents. The currents include one- and two-body terms induced by π-and ρ-meson exchange, and N-to-Δ excitation, and are constrained to reproduce the empirical value of the Gamow-Teller matrix element in tritium. We investigate the sensitivity of …