Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 156, 37-67 (2008)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2008-00608-0

Nuclear energy density functionals constrained by low-energy QCD

Physics Department, University of Zagreb, Bijenička 32, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia

Corresponding author: vretenar@phy.hr

Abstract

A microscopic framework of nuclear energy density functionals is reviewed, which establishes a direct relation between low-energy QCD and nuclear structure, synthesizing effective field theory methods and principles of density functional theory. Guided by two closely related features of QCD in the low-energy limit: a) in-medium changes of vacuum condensates, and b) spontaneous breaking of chiral symmetry; a relativistic energy density functional is developed and applied in studies of ground-state properties of spherical and deformed nuclei.