Excited states of neutron-rich nuclei: mean field theory and beyond Original Research Article

Mean field calculations of the isovector dipole and low-lying 2+, 3− excitations, performed within the Skyrme-RPA and QRPA framework, are discussed. Examples are chosen among the neutron-rich nuclei of interest for present nuclear structure research. The relevance of the correlations beyond mean field, in particular of the contribution of the coupling with surface vibrations, is pointed out. We stress the importance of unifying the microscopic nuclear structure calculations and reaction models for a direct comparison of the theoretical predictions with the experimental data. In this context we show the effectiveness of the folding model, which can naturally accommodate the RPA transition densities.