7Be(p,gamma)8B S-factor from ab initio no-core shell model wave functions

Abstract

Nuclear structure of 7Be, 8B and 7,8Li is studied within the ab initio no-core shell model (NCSM). Starting from high-precision nucleon-nucleon (NN) interactions, wave functions of 7Be and 8B bound states are obtained in basis spaces up to 10 hbar Omega and used to calculate channel cluster form factors (overlap integrals) of the 8B ground state with 7Be+p. Due to the use of the harmonic oscillator (HO) basis, the overlap integrals have incorrect asymptotic properties. We fix this problem in two alternative ways. First, by a Woods-Saxon (WS) potential solution fit to the interior of the NCSM overlap integrals. Second, by a direct matching with the Whittaker function. The corrected overlap integrals are then used for the 7Be(p,gamma)8B S-factor calculation. We study the convergence of the S-factor with respect to the NCSM HO frequency and the model space size. Our S-factor results are in agreement with recent direct measurement data. We also test the spectroscopic factors and the corrected overlap integrals from the NCSM in describing the momentum distributions in knockout reactions with 8B projectiles. A good agreement with the available experimental data is also found, attesting the overall consistency of the calculations.