We present the basic concepts and recent developments in the time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) for describing nuclear dynamics at low energy. The symmetry breaking is inherent in nuclear energy density functionals (EDFs), which provides a practical description of important correlations at the ground state. Properties of elementary modes of excitation are strongly influenced by the symmetry breaking and can be studied with TDDFT. In particular, a number of recent developments in the linear response calculation have demonstrated their usefulness in description of collective modes of excitation in nuclei. Unrestricted real-time calculations have also become available in recent years, with new developments for quantitative description of nuclear collision phenomena. There are, however, limitations in the real-time approach; for instance, it cannot describe the many-body quantum tunneling. Thus, we treat the quantum fluctuations associated with slow collective motions assuming that time evolution of densities are determined by a few collective coordinates and momenta. The concept of collective submanifold is introduced in the phase space associated with the TDDFT and used to quantize the collective dynamics. Selected applications are presented to demonstrate the usefulness and quality of the new approaches. Finally, conceptual differences between nuclear and electronic TDDFT are discussed, with some recent applications to studies of electron dynamics in the linear response and under a strong laser field.

The continuum random-phase approximation is extended to the one applicable to deformed nuclei. We propose two different approaches. One is based on the use of the three dimensional (3D) Green's function and the other is the small-amplitude TDHF with the absorbing-boundary condition. Both methods are based on the 3D Cartesian grid representation and applicable to systems without any symmetry on nuclear shape. The accuracy and identity of these two methods are examined with the BKN interaction. Using the full Skyrme energy functional in the small-amplitude TDHF approach, we study the isovector giant dipole states in the continuum for 16 O and for even-even Be isotopes.

We propose a practical method to solve the random-phase approximation (RPA) in the selfconsistent Hartree-Fock (HF) and density-functional theory. The method is based on numerical evaluation of the residual interactions utilizing finite amplitude of single-particle wave functions.The method only requires calculations of the single-particle Hamiltonian constructed with independent bra and ket states. Using the present method, the RPA calculation becomes possible with a little extension of a numerical code of the static HF calculation. We demonstrate usefulness and accuracy of the present method performing test calculations for isoscalar responses in deformed 20 Ne.

We present simple equations for a canonical-basis (Cb) formulation of the time-dependent Hartree-FockBogoliubov (TDHFB) theory. The equations are obtained from the TDHFB theory with an approximation that the pair potential is assumed to be diagonal in the Cb. The Cb formulation significantly reduces the computational cost. We apply the method to linear-response calculations for even-even light nuclei and demonstrate its capability and accuracy by comparing our results with recent calculations of the quasiparticle random-phase approximation with Skyrme functionals. We show systematic studies of E1 strength distributions for Ne and Mg isotopes. The evolution of the low-lying pygmy strength seems to be determined by the interplay of several factors, which include the neutron excess, the separation energy, the neutron-shell effects, the deformation, and the pairing.