Multidimensionally-constrained covariant density functional theories — nuclear shapes and potential energy surfaces postprint

Abstract: The intrinsic nuclear shapes deviating from a sphere not only man- ifest themselves in nuclear collective states but also play impor- tant roles in determining nuclear potential energy surfaces (PES’s) and fission barriers. In order to describe microscopically and self- consistently nuclear shapes and PES’s with as many shape degrees of freedom as possible included, we developed multidimensionally- constrained covariant density functional theories (MDC-CDFTs). In MDC-CDFTs, the axial symmetry and the reflection symmetry are both broken and all deformations characterized by βλμ with even μ are considered. We have used the MDC-CDFTs to study PES’s and fission barriers of actinides, the non-axial octupole Y32 correla- tions in N = 150 isotones and shapes of hypernuclei. In this Review we will give briefly the formalism of MDC-CDFTs and present the applications to normal nuclei.