Heavy-Ion Reactions and Nuclear Structure

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We propose to develop new theoretical models for the prediction of nuclear structure properties. These models will be applied to exotic nuclei at the extreme limits of stability, which are studied at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) and other radioactive beam laboratories. They will also be applied to the properties of nuclei at high excitation energy, where the unsolved problems of many-body quantum chaos become important. These models are needed for the prediction of astrophysically important nuclear reaction rates, as well as for the interpretation of electroweak interactions in nuclei. We also propose to develop models for nuclear collisions at energies between the nuclear binding energy and the highest energies experimentally available. These collisions are of extreme interest, because they hold the promise to reveal the existence of phase transitions of nuclear and quark matter. This is relevant to understanding the history of the early universe as well as the interior of stars. Our work is in direct support of experiments at the NSCL and the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. Our work directly relates to two of the highest three priorities identified by the nuclear physics long-range plan. Aspects of our work are computationally intensive and will make use of state-of-the- art facilities.