New Kohn-Sham density functional based on microscopic nuclear and neutron matter equations of state

A new version of the Barcelona-Catania-Paris energy functional is applied to a study of nuclear masses and other properties. The functional is largely based on calculated ab initio nuclear and neutron matter equations of state. Compared to typical Skyrme functionals having 10-12 parameters apart from spin-orbit and pairing terms, the new functional has only 2 or 3 adjusted parameters, fine tuning the nuclear matter binding energy and fixing the surface energy of finite nuclei. An energy rms value of 1.58 MeV is obtained from a fit of these three parameters to the 579 measured masses reported in the Audi and Wapstra [Nucl. Phys. A 729, 337 (2003)] compilation. This rms value compares favorably with the one obtained using other successful mean field theories, which range from 1.5 to 3.0 MeV for optimized Skyrme functionals and 0.7 to 3.0 for the Gogny functionals. The other properties that have been calculated and compared to experiment are nuclear radii, the giant monopole resonance, and spontaneous fission lifetimes.