Structure Factors for Hot Neutron Matter from Ab Initio Lattice Simulations with High-Fidelity Chiral Interactions

Area of Science:

• Nuclear Physics
• Astrophysical Phenomena

Background:

• Spin and density correlations in hot neutron matter are crucial for understanding core-collapse supernovae.
• Calculating these correlations with high-fidelity interactions has been computationally prohibitive.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present the first ab initio lattice calculations of spin and density correlations in hot neutron matter.
• To introduce and apply the rank-one operator (RO) method for these complex calculations.

Main Methods:

• Employed ab initio lattice calculations with high-fidelity chiral interactions at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order.
• Utilized the novel rank-one operator (RO) method to overcome computational scaling challenges.

Main Results:

• Computed vector and axial static structure factors for hot neutron matter across various temperatures and densities.
• Achieved good agreement with virial expansion at low densities, with enhanced reliability at higher densities.

Conclusions:

• The RO method successfully enables previously intractable calculations of structure factors.
• Results provide crucial data for calibrating neutrino opacity in supernova simulations.