文章介绍了原子核协变密度泛函理论的历史发展、理论框架、对原子核基态和激发态的描述以及在一些交叉学科领域的应用。首先,通过回顾原子核物理研究中的几个重要里程碑并结合二十一世纪原子核物理面临的机遇和挑战,对当前核物理的研究热点和重要课题进行了介绍。随后系统介绍了原子核协变密度泛函理论,内容包括协变密度泛函理论的历史发展、一般理论公式、介子交换模型、点耦合模型、交换项、张量相互作用、物理观测量的计算公式等。协变密度泛函理论的应用包括原子核基态性质和激发态性质的描述以及在核天体物理与标准模型检验中的应用。其中,基态性质包括原子核结合能、半径、单粒子能级、共振态、磁矩、晕现象等。激发态性质包括原子核磁转动、低激发态性质、集体转动、量子相变、集体振动等。在核天体物理与标准模型检验的应用中,主要以核纪年法测算宇宙年龄和Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa矩阵的幺正性检验等为例,介绍协变密度泛函理论在交叉学科领域的应用。
This article provides a review on the covariant density functional theory (CDFT) in nuclear physics, and its applications for nuclear ground-states and excited states, as well as a couple of topics in interdisciplinary fields. By reviewing the development milestones in nuclear physics, the hot top- ics and important issues, as well as the corresponding opportunities and challenges in the twenty-first century are introduced. The nuclear CDFT is then presented in detail, including the general formalism, meson-exchange models, point-coupling models, exchange terms, tensor interactions, and physical observable, etc. The successes of the CDFT are illustrated by the descriptions of a series of nuclear ground-states and excited states properties, as well as its applications in astrophysics and the Standard Model. The ground-states properties include the nuclear binding energies, radii, single-particle spectra, resonance states, halo phenomena, and magnetic moments. The excited states properties include the nuclear magnetic rotation, low-lying excitations, shape phase transitions, and collective vibrations. The applications of the nuclear CDFT in interdisciplinary fields are demonstrated by the investigations on the nucleocosmochronology and the unitarity condition of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix.