Constructing Effective Interactions via Projection-Based Inversion

Abstract

We present a numerical prescription for extracting continuum scattering information from discrete spectra by constraining effective interactions inspired by effective field theory (EFT). Using a Multiparameter Eigenvalue Problem (MEP) emulator, we map energies to a sum of contact potentials by recasting the inverse problem as a linear eigenvalue equation. Because our method determines the effective interaction rather than the scattering amplitude, it can handle non-perturbative Coulomb interactions and different types of truncated Hilbert spaces without analytic quantization conditions. It therefore allows standard bound-state codes to be used for scattering calculations without modification. We validate this prescription across multiple ab initio frameworks using neutron-alpha scattering, alpha-alpha scattering with full Coulomb, and a prediction of proton-$^{14}$O resonances.