Toward a Self-Consistent Theory of the Nuclear Collective Hamiltonian

This paper presents a new approach to the problem of nuclear vibrational motion, based on the generalized Hartree-Fock approximation of Klein and Kerman. The power of this method for obtaining results free of cranking concepts is demonstrated by a completely microscopic derivation of a one-dimensional version of Bohr's collective Hamiltonian for vibrations (in the harmonic approximation). The calculation of the moment of inertia of a plane rotator is repeated first to demonstrate how the methods of this paper can be used to treat rotations and vibrations on the same footing. We have, therefore, a general theory for describing the usual types of collective motion in heavy nuclei.