The shell model Monte Carlo method is a powerful method for calculating exactly (up to statistical errors) thermal observables and statistical properties of atomic nuclei. However, its application has been limited by a sign problem at low temperatures that arises from the projection onto odd number of particles even for good-sign interactions. Here, we develop a technique—the partition function extrapolation method (PFEM)—to extract the ground-state energy of an odd-mass nucleus from the excitation partition function calculated at temperatures at which this sign problem is moderate. We validate the PFEM in heavy even-mass nuclei and systematically calculate ground-state energies for isotopic chains of heavy odd-mass nuclei. The PFEM can be extended to other finite-size quantum many-body systems.

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• Nuclear many-body theory
• Thermal & statistical models
• Quantum Monte Carlo
• Shell model