Quantum Monte Carlo Calculations of Light Nuclei

Variational Monte Carlo and Green’s function Monte Carlo are powerful tools for calculations of properties of light nuclei using realistic two-nucleon and three-nucleon potentials. Recently the GFMC method has been extended to multiple states with the same quantum numbers. The combination of the Argonne v_18 two-nucleon and Illinois-2 three-nucleon potentials gives a good prediction of many energies of nuclei up to 12C. A number of other recent results are presented: comparison of binding energies with those obtained by the no-core shell model; the incompatibility of modern nuclear Hamiltonians with a bound tetra-neutron; difficulties in computing RMS radii of very weakly bound nuclei, such as 6He; center-of-mass effects on spectroscopic factors; and the possible use of an artificial external well in calculations of neutron-rich isotopes.