Density functionals in nuclear systems - Lecture I

In these two lectures, I will give a general overview of density functional theory (DFT) in nuclear systems. We will discuss the basic ingredients of the theory in terms of similarities and (of course) differences with an electronic system. We will discuss further, with an illustrating example, how to find the ground state properties of a simple nucleus and properties of infinite nuclear matter. We will end the discussion with constructing an energy density functional (EDF) which is cost effective, agnostic yet informed by nuclear properties, suitable for astrophysical calculations.