Structure of nuclei at extreme values of the isospin

Abstract

Physics of nuclei at extreme values of the isospin is at the focus of present-day nuclear science. Experimentally, thanks to existing and emerging radioactive-ion-beam facilities, we are on the verge of invading the territory of extreme N/Z ratios in an unprecedented way. Theoretically, nuclear exotica represent a formidable challenge for the nuclear many-body theories and their power to predict nuclear properties far from stability. Going to the limits of the nuclear binding is also important for an improvement of our description of normal nuclei from the neighborhood of the beta stability valley. In the present talk, we review several aspects of the present-day mean-field theoretical studies of weakly bound nuclei.