Ab initio $α$-$α$ scattering with high-fidelity chiral interactions

Abstract

Low-energy $α$-$α$ scattering underlies stellar helium burning and sharply tests nuclear forces in the reaction regime. We present its first calculation using the high-fidelity N3LO chiral NLEFT interaction, incorporated through wave function matching, on a fine lattice, using the adiabatic projection method. On the fine lattice, the two-cluster norm matrix becomes severely ill-conditioned, and its direct inversion is unstable. We address this with Tikhonov regularization, extrapolating the regulator to zero, and confirm the result with an independent truncated singular-value decomposition. The S- and D-wave phase shifts agree with empirical analyses, extending the validation of this interaction from bound states and charge radii to scattering and providing a practical route to ab initio nuclear reactions on fine lattices