Nuclear structure data reveal a rich variety of phenomena characterizing atomic nuclei. Over the past decade or so, the spectral properties of neutron-rich nuclei have generated great interest as they have highlighted new aspects of the nuclear force and have challenged existing theories. In this talk, I will review recent progress in a unified description of nuclear structure covering both a broad region in mass and a large range in angular momentum. Specifically, a new method, configuration interaction on top of projected density functional theory, will be introduced for deformed nuclei. In contrast to conventional shell-model calculations, this approach does not involve the introduction of the concept of a core plus valence nucleons and only a relatively small number of configurations is required to achieve a good description. Furthermore, no new parameters are necessary as the effective interaction is derived from a universal density functional found in the literature.

Argonne Physics Division Colloquium Schedule