Nuclear DFT studies of atomic nuclei

The tool of choice to describe properties of atomic nuclei from light to heavy and from drip-line to drip-line is the nuclear density functional theory (NDFT). At present, about 3000 atomic nuclei have been experimentally observed, but present-day NDFT models predict the existence of at least twice more nuclei bound with respect to particle emission.

The York theory group has a strong expertise in this domain of physics and plays a major active role in the international arena. The York-Lyon-Jyväskylä collaboration aims to build new-generation density functionals with improved spectroscopic properties. The overarching goal is to develop numerical simulations providing a robust and precise description of the large amount of data collected over the years of experimental studies.

The PhD student will contribute to group's activity by exploring properties of nuclei in one of the following research directions:

·    proton-neutron pairing correlations,

·    magnetic moments of odd nuclei,

·    moments of inertia on the path to fission.

·    development of novel finite-range nonlocal density functionals,

Depending on student’s predisposition, the thesis may be more focused towards exploitation of existing tools, comparison with data and collaboration with experimentalists, or towards development of novel theoretical approaches. The student will learn advanced methods of NDFT and employ existing high-performance-computing resources developed at York.