Symmetry-unrestricted self-consistent time-dependent density matrix theory with a Skyrme force.

My research has been focused on time-dependent aspects of nuclear physics both at the mean-field and at the beyond-mean-field level. At the mean field level, the objective of my PhD has been to understand how the introduction of the tensor part of the Skyrme interaction affects heavy ion collisions and giant magnetic resonances, in a self consistent and symmetry unrestricted manner. The introduction of the tensor force redistributes the strength of the giant magnetic resonances within the same energy range. Within the study of heavy ion collisions of 16O+16O the introduction of the tensor decreased the amount of dissipation in the system. At the beyond mean field level, the objective of my PhD was to implement a time dependent density matrix (TDDM) theory, self consistently, without symmetry restrictions using the full Skyrme force. TDDM allows an order by order truncation of the Bogoliubov-Born-Green-Kirkwood-Yvon (BBGKY) hierarchy, which relates the evolution of many body densities. If two-body correlations are assumed to dominate the dynamics of the system, the resulting equations incorporate one-particle-one-hole and two-particle-two-hole correlations. A variety of different nuclei below A=40 were chosen to study the formation of correlations for different nuclear ground states. Two body correlations were found to have a noticeable effect on the ground state properties of these nuclei. For example on average 4 - 5 % of the total energy is due to correlations. When time dependent calculations were performed with these correlated nuclei, computational limitations led to problems with conservation laws