Spectroscopy of the heaviest nuclei (theory)

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent advances in covariant density functional theory (CDFT) for describing the spectroscopy and fission properties of the heaviest nuclei, demonstrating its accuracy and predictive power.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of quasiparticle spectra, rotational responses, and fission barriers in superheavy nuclei using CDFT, highlighting its effectiveness compared to other models.

Findings

CDFT accurately describes quasiparticle spectra in actinides and superheavy nuclei.

Cranked relativistic Hartree+Bogoliubov theory effectively models nuclear rotation.

CDFT achieves fission barrier predictions comparable to phenomenological approaches.

Abstract

Recent progress in the applications of covariant density functional theory (CDFT) to the description of the spectroscopy of the heaviest nuclei is reviewed. The analysis of quasiparticle spectra in actinides and the heaviest A ~ 250 nuclei provides a measure of the accuracy of the description of single-particle energies in CDFT and an additional constraint for the choice of effective interactions for the description of superheavy nuclei. The response of these nuclei to the rotation is rather well described by cranked relativistic Hartree+Bogoliubov theory and it serves as a supplementary tool in configuration assignment in odd-mass nuclei. A systematic analysis of the fission barriers with allowance for triaxial deformation shows that covariant density functional theory is able to describe fission barriers on a level of accuracy comparable with the best phenomenological macroscopic+microscopic approaches.