Density Functional Theory (DFT) for atomic nuclei: a simple introduction

TL;DR

This paper provides an accessible introduction to Density Functional Theory (DFT) for atomic nuclei, covering basic concepts, differences from mean-field theory, energy density functionals, symmetry considerations, and time-dependent extensions, aimed at newcomers.

Contribution

It offers a simplified, updated overview of DFT in nuclear physics, helping beginners understand core ideas and navigate more advanced literature.

Findings

Highlights the limitations of naive mean-field theory in nuclear matter.

Introduces energy density functionals and their applications in nuclear structure.

Discusses symmetry breaking and time-dependent DFT in nuclear physics.

Abstract

The present contribution does not aim at replacing the huge and often excellent literature on DFT for atomic nuclei, but tries to provide an updated introduction to this topic. The goal would be, ideally, to help a fresh M.Sc. or Ph.D. student (or a researcher from other fields) to become acquainted with some basic concepts, and then move to the specialized textbooks or papers with some ability for orienteering. We first introduce the basics of DFT, and show the difference with the "naive" mean-field theory, that is doomed to fail as a model even in the simple case of uniform nuclear matter. We introduce the Energy Density Functionals (EDFs) that are used in nuclear structure, with few examples of their applications. The concepts of symmetry breaking and restoration are briefly discussed. We also include an introduction to the time-dependent extension of DFT that, so far, has been implemented essentially only in the adiabatic approximation and has been applied mainly to the study of nuclear vibrations. With this material, we hope that any reader is able to deal with the texts that go deeper into each of the topics, having understood that DFT is probably the best compromise in nuclear structure theory between simplicity, accuracy, and broad range of applicability.