Background

Some of the big questions in physics are the origin and evolution of visible matter around us, how sub-atomic matter organizes, and are the fundamental interactions fully understood. All these questions have strong connection to nuclear physics.

The atomic nucleus offers an excellent laboratory to test the properties of the weak interaction. Besides beta decays, phenomena such as double beta decay, unitarity test of Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix, neutrino-nucleus reactions, and direct detection of the dark matter could be studied.

Nuclear physics also provides valuable input for various astrophysical scenarios. Nuclear beta-decays, low-lying electromagnetic strength, and neutrino-nucleus reactions in neutron rich nuclei are all connected to the r-process, stellar nucleosynthesis, and supernova modeling. Thanks to the new and oncoming radioactive beam facilities, the experimental data on very neutron-rich nuclei will help to calibrate nuclear models for neutron-rich matter.

Nuclear density functional theory (DFT) is the only microscopical theory, which at present can be applied throughout the entire nuclear chart. Owning to this fact, the nuclear DFT will be the tool of choice for nuclear-structure calculations carried out in this project. The key ingredient of the DFT is the energy density functional (EDF) which incorporates complex many-body correlations within the energy density constructed from the nucleon densities and currents. Current EDF models already provide a rather robust predictions for various nuclear bulk properties and for the limits of the nuclear landscape. However, dynamic properties of the EDF and restoration of broken symmetries still requires further improvements.

In summary, the goal of this theory project is to provide advanced nuclear-physics input to processes relevant to the various tests of weak interaction and astrophysical scenarios, including a proper uncertainty quantification.