Relativistic models for nuclear structure and low-energy QCD phenomenology

Abstract

Abstract. In this contribution we will report about developments on a recently proposed relativistic nuclear energy density functional based on the characteristic features of low-energy QCD and its symmetry breaking pattern. IntroductionThe most complete and accurate description of structure phenomena in medium and heavy nuclei is currently provided by self-consistent non-relativistic and relativistic mean-field approaches. By employing phenomenological effective interactions, adjusted to empirical properties of symmetric and asymmetric nuclear matter, and to bulk properties of stable nuclei, self-consistent meanfield methods have achieved a high level of precision in describing ground states and properties of excited states in stable nuclei, exotic nuclei far from β-stability, and in nuclear systems at the nucleon drip-lines.In the last years, a new approach has been proposed [1,2,3,4] in which the effective interaction is constrained by two essential features of the low-energy (non-perturbative) sector of QCD. It is essentially based on the following conjectures: