One of the overarching goals in nuclear science is to understand how the nuclear chart emerges from the underlying fundamental interactions. The description of the structure of nuclei from first principles, using
ab initio
methods for the solution of the many-nucleon problem with inputs from chiral effective field theory, has advanced dramatically over the past two decades. We present an overview over the available
ab initio
tools with a specific emphasis on electromagnetic observables, such as multipole moments and transition strengths. These observables still pose a challenge for
ab initio
theory and are one of the most exciting domains to exploit synergies with modern experiments. Precise experimental data are vital for the validation of the theory predictions and the refinement of
ab initio
methods. We discuss some of the past and future experimental efforts highlighting these synergies.
This article is part of the theme issue ‘The liminal position of Nuclear Physics: from hadrons to neutron stars’.