Relativistic mean-field description of nuclei at the drip lines

Abstract

We present a review of recent applications of the relativistic mean-field theory to the structure of nuclei close to the drip-lines. For systems with extreme isospin values, the relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov model provides a unified and self-consistent description of mean-field and pairing correlations. The model has been applied in studies of structure phenomena that include: formation of neutron skin and of neutron halos in light nuclei in the mass region above the s-d neutron shell, the strong isospin dependence of the effective spin-orbit interaction and the resulting modification of surface properties, the suppression of the spherical N=28 shell gap for neutron-rich nuclei and the related phenomenon of deformation and shape coexistence, the proton drip-line in the spherical nuclei $14\le Z\le 28$, and ground-state proton radioactivity in the region of deformed nuclei $59\le Z\le 69$.

Comments: 16 pages, 12 P.S. figures, Invited presentation "Nuclear Structure '98" Gatliburg, USA, August 1998