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A new Skyrme-like energy density suitable for studies of strongly elongated nuclei has been determined in the framework of the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov theory using the recently developed model-based, derivative-free optimization algorithm pounders. A sensitivity analysis at the optimal solution has revealed the importance of states at large deformations in driving the parameterization of the functional. The good agreement with experimental data on masses and separation energies, achieved with the previous parameterization unedf0, is largely preserved. In addition, the new energy density unedf1 gives a much improved description of the fission barriers in 240 Pu and neighboring nuclei.

We optimize the nucleon-nucleon interaction from chiral effective field theory at next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO). The resulting new chiral force NNLO(opt) yields χ(2)≈1 per degree of freedom for laboratory energies below approximately 125 MeV. In the A=3, 4 nucleon systems, the contributions of three-nucleon forces are smaller than for previous parametrizations of chiral interactions. We use NNLO(opt) to study properties of key nuclei and neutron matter, and we demonstrate that many aspects of nuclear structure can be understood in terms of this nucleon-nucleon interaction, without explicitly invoking three-nucleon forces.

Nuclear density functional theory is the only microscopical theory that can be applied throughout the entire nuclear landscape. Its key ingredient is the energy density functional. In this work, we propose a new parameterization UNEDF2 of the Skyrme energy density functional. The functional optimization is carried out using the POUNDerS optimization algorithm within the framework of the Skyrme Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov theory. Compared to the previous parameterization UNEDF1, restrictions on the tensor term of the energy density have been lifted, yielding a very general form of the energy density functional up to second order in derivatives of the one-body density matrix. In order to impose constraints on all the parameters of the functional, selected data on single-particle splittings in spherical doubly-magic nuclei have been included into the experimental dataset. The agreement with both bulk and spectroscopic nuclear properties achieved by the resulting UNEDF2 parameterization is comparable with UNEDF1. While there is a small improvement on single-particle spectra and binding energies of closed shell nuclei, the reproduction of fission barriers and fission isomer excitation energies has degraded. As compared to previous UNEDF parameterizations, the parameter confidence interval for UNEDF2 is narrower. In particular, our results overlap well with those obtained in previous systematic studies of the spin-orbit and tensor terms. UNEDF2 can be viewed as an all-around Skyrme EDF that performs reasonably well for both global nuclear properties and shell structure. However, after adding new data aiming to better constrain the nuclear functional, its quality has improved only marginally. These results suggest that the standard Skyrme energy density has reached its limits and significant changes to the form of the functional are needed.Comment: 18 pages, 13 figures, 12 tables; resubmitted for publication to Phys. Rev. C after second review by refere

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