Energy density functional (EDF) approaches have become over the past twenty years a powerful framework to study the structure and reactions of atomic nuclei. This book gives an updated presentation of non-relativistic and covariant energy functionals, single- and multi-reference methods, and techniques to describe small- and large-amplitude collective motion or nuclei at high excitation energy. Edited by an expert in energy density functional theory, Dr Nicolas Schunck, alongside several experts within the field, this book provides a comprehensive and informative exploration of EDF methods. Detailed derivations, practical approaches, examples and figures are used throughout the book to give a coherent narrative of topics that have hitherto rarely been covered together.

An understanding of the properties of atomic nuclei is crucial for a complete nuclear theory, for element formation, for properties of stars, and for present and future energy and defense applications. During the period of Dec. 1 2006 - Jun. 30, 2012, the UNEDF collaboration carried out a comprehensive study of all nuclei, based on the most accurate knowledge of the strong nuclear interaction, the most reliable theoretical approaches, the most advanced algorithms, and extensive computational resources, with a view towards scaling to the petaflop platforms and beyond. Until recently such an undertaking was hard to imagine, and even at the present time such an ambitious endeavor would be far beyond what a single researcher or a traditional research group could carry out. The UNEDF SciDAC project has developed several key computational codes and algorithms for reaching the goal of solving the nuclear quantum many-body problem throughout the chart of nuclei. Without such developments, scientific progress would not be possible. In addition the UNEDF SciDAC successfully applied these developments to solve many forefront research problems.

It is the first application to nuclear physics from energy-density functional method, for which Professor Walter Kohn received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The book presents a comprehensive extension of the Bohr-Wheeler theory with the present knowledge of nuclear density distribution function.

This book aims to provide a detailed introduction to the state-of-the-art covariant density functional theory, which follows the Lorentz invariance from the very beginning and is able to describe nuclear many-body quantum systems microscopically and self-consistently. Covariant density functional theory was introduced in nuclear physics in the 1970s and has since been developed and used to describe the diversity of nuclear properties and phenomena with great success.In order to provide an advanced and updated textbook of covariant density functional theory for graduate students and nuclear physics researchers, this book summarizes the enormous amount of material that has accumulated in the field of covariant density functional theory over the last few decades as well as the latest developments in this area. Moreover, the book contains enough details for readers to follow the formalism and theoretical results, and provides exhaustive references to explore the research literature.

This book summarizes the enormous amount of material accumulated in the field of nuclear density functional theory over the last few decades. The goal of the theory is to provide a complete quantum mechanical description and explanation of nuclear phenomena in terms of the local density distribution as a basic ingredient rather than the many particle wavefunction. This leads to a considerable reduction in the mathematical complexity of nuclear many-body problems and to a great conceptual simplicity and visual clarity in its theoretical treatment. The authors develop the mathematical framework on which the theory is based and consider the associated approaches used to analyze experimental data in a variety of nuclei and nuclear processes with widely differing properties.

The first Nato Advanced Studies Institute entirely devoted to density functional theory was held in Portugal in September 1983. The proceedings of this School, publis hed in early 1985, is still used as a standard reference covering the basic development of the theory and applications in atomic, molecular, solid state and nuclear physics. Ho wever, astonishing progress has been achieved in the intervening years: The foundations of the theory have been extended to cover excited states and time dependent problems more fully, density functional theory of classical liquids and superconducting systems has been addressed and extensions to relativistic, that is, field theoretical systems, as well as a more thorough discussion of magnetic field problems have been presented. In addition, new functionals have been devised, for instance under the heading of ge neralised gradient expansions, and the number of applications in the traditional fields has steadily increased, in particular in chemistry. Applications in new fields, as for instance the structure of atomic clusters and the marriage of density functional theory with molecular dynamics and simulated annealing, have provided additional impetus to the field of density functional theory.

This volume records the proceedings of a Forum on The Fundamentals of Electron Density, Density Matrix and Density Functional Theory in Atoms, Molecules and the Solid State held at the Coseners' House, Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxon. over the period 31st May - 2nd June, 2002. The forum consisted of 26 oral and poster presentations followed by a discussion structure around questions and comments submitted by the participants (and others who had expressed an interest) in advance of the meeting. Quantum mechanics provides a theoretical foundation for our under standing of the structure and properties of atoms, molecules and the solid state in terms their component particles, electrons and nuclei. (Rel ativistic quantum mechanics is required for molecular systems contain ing heavy atoms.) However, the solution of the equations of quantum mechanics yields a function, a wave function, which depends on the co ordinates, both space and spin, of all of the particles in the system. This functions contains much more information than is required to yield the energy or other property.

Density Functional Theory (DFT) is currently receiving a great deal of attention as chemists come to realize its important role as a tool for chemistry. This book covers the theoretical principles of DFT, and details its application to several contemporary problems. All current techniques are covered, many are critically assessed, and some proposals for the future are reviewed. The book demonstrates that DFT is a practical solution to the problems standard ab initio methods have with chemical accuracy.The book is aimed at both the theoretical chemist and the experimentalist who want to relate their experiments to the governing theory. It will prove a useful and enduring reference work.