Modern Energy Density Functional for Nuclei

The development of a modern and more realistic nuclear energy density functional (EDF) for accurate predictions of properties of atomic nuclei is a current subject of enhanced activity. Adopting the standard parametrization of the Skyrme type interactions, we have recently determined within the Hartree-Fock (HF) approximation a new and more realistic EDF by carrying out, using the simulating annealing method (SAM), a fit to an extensive set of experimental data on binding energies, radii, single particle energies and giant resonance energies of nuclei. We also imposed additional constraints, such as the Landau stability constraints on nuclear matter (NM) and the non- negativity of the slope of the symmetry energy density at high density of NM. We have also addressed the issues of the isospin dependence of the spin-orbit (SO) interaction, of the effects of long-range correlations on properties of nuclei and of the equation of state of symmetric and asymmetric NM.