Reflection-Asymmetric Nuclear Deformations within the Density Functional Theory

Abstract

Within the nuclear density functional theory (DFT) we study the effect of reflection- asymmetric shapes on ground-state binding energies and binding energy differences. To this end, we developed the new DFT solver axialhfb that uses an approximate second-order gradient to solve the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov equations of superconducting DFT with the quasi-local Skyrme energy density functionals. Illustrative calculations are carried out for even- even isotopes of radium and thorium.