Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-2014

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Physics

Major Professor

Witek Nazarewicz

Committee Members

Vasilios Alexiades, Robert Grzywacz, Thomas Papenbrock

Abstract

For theoretical nuclear physics to make predictions on nuclei far from stability it is necessary to develop a framework where meaningful calculations can be made throughout the nuclear chart. Such a framework has been established; using nuclear Density Functional Theory (DFT) along with massively parallel computing, it is now possible to make large-scale mass table calculations in a short period of time. For this work, large-scale mass tables were made using Skyrme Energy Density Functionals (EDFs). In order to determine the statistical and systematic uncertainties of these calculations, six different EDFs were used. Using ground state binding energy, pairing gap, radius, and deformation data from these tables, the following global properties were analyzed: the two-proton and two-neutron driplines, two-proton radioactivity, ground state reflection-asymmetric shapes, and neutron-skin thicknesses. These data were also used in the development of a new EDF. Lastly, in an effort to better understand nuclear collective modes, massively parallel computational techinques were used in the development of a method to calculate the sum rules for giant resonances.

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