Theoretical Nuclear Structure Physics

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The nuclear theory program in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge is focused on the properties of atomic nuclei under extreme conditions: high spin, large deformation, stretched isospin, etc. Of special interest is the structure of strongly deformed nuclei of the rare earth and actinide regions. The collective modes of these nuclei involve a large fraction of the total number of constituent nucleons and therefore a special shell-model theory --- one that is not bound by the usual constraints of an independent particle picture --- is required to understand these collective features. The proposed research will focus on several matters: potential energy surfaces and excitation energies; electromagnetic moments and transition strengths; giant resonances; nuclear currents; double beta decay strengths; and superdeformation. However, a deeper and more challenging objective of the proposed research is to probe those special features of the nucleon-nucleon interaction that give rise to mean fields and observed collective phenomena. In particular, the proposed program will continue to focus on the origin of pseudo-spin symmetry and the complementary of proton and neutron dynamics. The training of graduate students (currently five) and the building of international collaborations (from former Soviet Union countries and Mexico, in particular) are an integral part of the research effort.