About this Research Topic
Time-dependent approaches to nuclear physics attempt to explore the full and rich many-body quantum dynamics occurring in nuclear reaction processes at various levels of approximation, both in the treatment of the many-body theory and in the choice of nuclear interaction. Much progress has been made in recent years in reducing the necessary approximations, while also recognizing that much insight can be gained from simple models with the key degrees of freedom retained. Time-dependent approaches provide an intuitive visualization of physical dynamics and allow the treatment of the complexity of processes such as friction and dissipation.
Time-dependent methods have resulted in recent advances in the understanding of processes such as: heavy-ion reactions from below the Coulomb barrier through fusion; deep-inelastic and multi-fragmentation energies; nucleosynthesis mechanisms; fission; the excitation of collective states, such as giant, pygmy, and molecular resonances; and nucleon transfer. This Research Topic seeks to highlight new physics results in areas such as these.
Methods which are welcome include those built on time-dependent density functionals; Langevin and other stochastic approaches; time-dependent generator coordinate method; quantum molecular dynamics; antisymmetrised molecular dynamics; wavepacket dynamics; BUU; Vlasov; few-body systems; Lindblad dynamics and open quantum systems.
Alongside the physical processes and observables, and the theoretical methods, the input in terms of the nuclear interaction is an important part of the calculations. The ability to make use of interactions of different levels of sophistication, and what the calculations can tell us about the underlying interactions, are concepts which are on-topic.
This Research Topic aims to summarise key important advances across the range of time-dependent approaches to nuclear structure and reactions, highlight recent results, and point the way for future studies, including the statement of open questions.
Time-dependent methods have resulted in recent advances in the understanding of processes such as: heavy-ion reactions from below the Coulomb barrier through fusion; deep-inelastic and multi-fragmentation energies; nucleosynthesis mechanisms; fission; the excitation of collective states, such as giant, pygmy, and molecular resonances; and nucleon transfer. This Research Topic seeks to highlight new physics results in areas such as these.
Methods which are welcome include those built on time-dependent density functionals; Langevin and other stochastic approaches; time-dependent generator coordinate method; quantum molecular dynamics; antisymmetrised molecular dynamics; wavepacket dynamics; BUU; Vlasov; few-body systems; Lindblad dynamics and open quantum systems.
Alongside the physical processes and observables, and the theoretical methods, the input in terms of the nuclear interaction is an important part of the calculations. The ability to make use of interactions of different levels of sophistication, and what the calculations can tell us about the underlying interactions, are concepts which are on-topic.
This Research Topic aims to summarise key important advances across the range of time-dependent approaches to nuclear structure and reactions, highlight recent results, and point the way for future studies, including the statement of open questions.
Keywords: time-dependence, nuclear structure, nuclear reactions, dissipiation, dynamics
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