Ab Initio Nuclear Theory for Heavy Nuclei and Its Application to Dark Matter-Nucleus Scattering

Abstract

The era of precision ab initio nuclear theory has arrived, enabling uncertainty-quantified predictions for nuclear structure and for interactions with external probes directly from the underlying nuclear force and electroweak currents. This review highlights recent breakthroughs that extend ab initio calculations to the heavy nucleus $^{208}$Pb, to medium-mass systems with complex deformation, and to weakly-bound nuclei near the driplines. We also summarize ab initio calculations of nuclear responses for dark matter direct detection. Together, these advances demonstrate how ab initio methods can substantially reduce nuclear-physics uncertainties in searches for physics beyond the Standard Model, providing a more robust interpretation of current and forthcoming precision experiments.