Variational Monte Carlo calculations of finite nuclei

A major goal in nuclear physics is to understand how nuclear structure comes about from the underlying interactions between nucleons. This requires modelling nuclei as collections of strongly interacting particles. Using realistic nucleon-nucleon potentials, supplemented with consistent three-nucleon potentials and two-body electroweak current operators, we calculate nuclear ground-state properties, such as the binding energy, electromagnetic form factors, and momentum distributions. Other properties such as excited states and low-energy reactions are also calculable in this framework.