Ab initio many-body calculation of the 7Be(p, γ)8B radiative capture

We apply the ab initio no-core shell model/resonating group method (NCSM/RGM) approach to calculate the cross section of the Be-7(p, gamma)B-8 radiative capture. This reaction is important for understanding the solar neutrino flux. Starting from a selected similarity-transformed chiral nucleon-nucleon interaction that accurately describes two-nucleon data, we performed many-body calculations that simultaneously predict both the normalization and the shape of the S-factor. We study the dependence on the number of Be-7 eigenstates included in the coupled-channel equations and on the size of the harmonic oscillator basis used for the expansion of the eigenstates and of the localized parts of the integration kernels. Our S-factor result at zero energy is on the lower side of, but consistent with, the latest evaluation. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.