9 Mean Field: Relativistic versus Non-relativistic

Abstract

The relativistic mean field model (RMF) is a key issue in this book. There is thus no need to motivate mean field models or to work out their value in describing nuclear ground state and excitation properties. But the reader may expect a justification for one more article on mean field models in the context of all what has already been written. The particular aim of this contribution is to establish a link to non-relativistic mean-field models and to compare them with RMF. There are two widely used non-relativistic models, the Skyrme-Hartree-Fock approach (SHF) and the Gogny force. From the RMF, we will discuss the conventional RMF with finite range meson fields and density-dependence via the scalar meson and a point-coupling variant thereof (PRMF) whose structure lies in between SHF and RMF. The aim of this article is to compare the performance of these three models and to point out several yet unresolved problems which appear particularly in connection with exotic nuclei. In fact, it is the comparison which triggers these intriguing questions. They would not have been spotted when looking only at one of the model alone.