Spectroscopy of the heaviest nuclei (theory)

Abstract

Recent progress in the applications of covariant density functional theory (CDFT) to the description of the spectroscopy of the heaviest nuclei is reviewed. The analysis of quasiparticle spectra in actinides and the heaviest A ∼ 250 nuclei provides a measure of the accuracy of the description of single-particle energies in CDFT and an additional constraint for the choice of effective interactions for the description of superheavy nuclei. The response of these nuclei to the rotation is rather well described by cranked relativistic Hartree+Bogoliubov theory and it serves as a supplementary tool in configuration assignment in odd-mass nuclei. A systematic analysis of the fission barriers with allowance for triaxial deformation shows that covariant density functional theory is able to describe fission barriers on a level of accuracy comparable with the best phenomenological macroscopic+microscopic approaches.