Symmetry broken and restored coupled-cluster theory: I. Rotational symmetry and angular momentum

We extend coupled-cluster (CC) theory performed on top of a Slater determinant breaking rotational symmetry to allow for the exact restoration of the angular momentum at any truncation order. The main objective relates to the description of near-degenerate finite quantum systems with an open-shell character. As such, the newly developed many-body formalism offers a wealth of potential applications and further extensions dedicated to the ab initio description of, e.g., doubly open-shell atomic nuclei and molecule dissociation. The formalism, which encompasses both single-reference CC theory and projected Hartree-Fock theory as particular cases, permits the computation of usual sets of connected diagrams while consistently incorporating static correlations through the highly non-perturbative restoration of rotational symmetry. Interestingly, the yrast spectroscopy of the system, i.e. the lowest energy associated with each angular momentum, is accessed within a single calculation. A key difficulty presently overcome relates to the necessity to handle generalized energy and norm kernels for which naturally terminating CC expansions could be eventually obtained. The present work focuses on SU(2) but can be extended to any (locally) compact Lie group and to discrete groups, such as most point groups. In particular, the formalism will be soon generalized to U(1) symmetry associated with particle number conservation. This is relevant to Bogoliubov CC theory that was recently applied to singly open-shell nuclei.