Spin-Isospin Response of Exotic Nuclei: Fine Structure, Quenching and Beta-Decay Properties

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The development of novel methods in nuclear many-body theory is critical for the study of phenomena at the frontiers of astrophysics, mesoscopic science, fundamental physics and technology. As a mesoscopic system, the atomic nucleus reveals the transition from the macroscopic world, with pronounced statistical regularities, to the microscopic world, where individual quantum states can be identified and studied. In this project, using the atomic nucleus as a research laboratory, powerful theoretical methods will be developed for the study of generic properties of many-body systems, such as shell structure, superfluidity and superconductivity, particle decay and radiation, the onset of chaotic dynamics and its interplay with collective motion. The project puts a strong emphasis on the development of cross-disciplinary theoretical methods with applicability to various strongly-correlated many-body systems. Applications of these methods provide insights in a variety of nuclear physics phenomena, such as beta decay, charge-exchange reactions, electron capture, two-neutrino and neutrino-less double beta decay, and the weak interaction processes. The work pursued here will support in part the experimental programs concerning the physics of stable and exotic nuclei at radioactive beam facilities.The objective of the proposed work is to find self-consistent high-precision solutions of the nuclear many-body problem, where masses, matter and charge distributions, spectra, decay and reaction rates can be calculated within the same framework at zero and finite temperatures. The mathematical apparatus for the generalized covariant response theory will be advanced beyond the existing formulation by means of Green's function techniques, involving extra dimensions accounting for nuclear superfluidity effects. The effects of coupling between single-particle and emergent collective degrees of freedom, coupling to the continuum and the formation of bubbles, skins and other exotic geometries will be included on equal footing. The project helps to answer fundamental questions, such as: What is the origin of chemical elements? Where are the limits of nuclear stability? What are the masses of neutrinos? The developed approach will allow for the consistent astrophysical modeling of such competing processes as beta-decay and neutron capture, and thereby remove the ambiguities arising from the nuclear physics input. This project will provide students with an intensive training of their analytical and numerical skills, serving as a basis for their future careers in industry and academia.