Testing ab initio nuclear structure in neutron-rich nuclei: Lifetime measurements of second 2⁺ state in ¹⁶C and ²⁰O

To test the predictive power of ab initio nuclear structure theory, the lifetime of the second 2⁺ state in neutron-rich ²⁰O, τ(2₂⁺)=150⁺⁸⁰_-30fs, and an estimate for the lifetime of the second 2⁺ state in ¹⁶C have been obtained for the first time. The results were achieved via a novel Monte Carlo technique that allowed us to measure nuclear state lifetimes in the tens-to-hundreds of femtoseconds range by analyzing the Doppler-shifted γ-transition line shapes of products of low-energy transfer and deep-inelastic processes in the reaction ¹⁸O(7.0MeV/u)+ ¹⁸¹Ta. The requested sensitivity could only be reached owing to the excellent performances of the Advanced γ-Tracking Array AGATA, coupled to the PARIS scintillator array and to the VAMOS++ magnetic spectrometer. The experimental lifetimes agree with predictions of ab initio calculations using two- and three-nucleon interactions, obtained with the valence-space in-medium similarity renormalization group for ²⁰O and with the no-core shell model for ¹⁶C. The present measurement shows the power of electromagnetic observables, determined with high-precision γ spectroscopy, to assess the quality of first-principles nuclear structure calculations, complementing common benchmarks based on nuclear energies. The proposed experimental approach will be essential for short lifetime measurements in unexplored regions of the nuclear chart, including r-process nuclei, when intense beams, produced by Isotope Separation On-Line (ISOL) techniques, become available.