Time-dependent covariant density functional theory in 3D lattice space: benchmark calculation for 16O + 16O reaction

TL;DR

This paper develops a 3D time-dependent covariant density functional theory using the PCPK1 functional, performs benchmark calculations for 16O + 16O reactions, and confirms its effectiveness in describing nuclear dynamics.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel 3D time-dependent covariant density functional theory framework with no symmetry restrictions, validated through benchmark reactions.

Findings

Relativistic kinematics and conservation laws are numerically satisfied.

Results agree well with nonrelativistic theories and experimental data.

The method effectively describes dissipation and fusion processes.

Abstract

Time-dependent covariant density functional theory with the successful density functional PCPK1 is developed in a three-dimensional coordinate space without any symmetry restrictions, and benchmark calculations for the 16O + 16O reaction are performed systematically. The relativistic kinematics, the conservation laws of the momentum, total energy, and particle number, as well as the time-reversal invariance are examined and confirmed to be satisfied numerically. Two primary applications including the dissipation dynamics and above-barrier fusion cross sections are illustrated. The obtained results are in good agreement with the ones given by the nonrelativistic time-dependent density functional theory and the data available. This demonstrates that the newly developed time-dependent covariant density functional theory could serve as an effective approach for the future studies of nuclear dynamical processes.