Dr Esra Yuksel

My research interests are focused on understanding the properties and dynamics of atomic nuclei under extreme conditions of isospin and temperature and extending these studies to the nuclear weak interaction processes. Starting from the properties of atomic nuclei, my research area extends through nuclear astrophysics and creates a bridge between nuclear physics and nuclear astrophysics.

From the theoretical point of view, calculation of the properties of an atomic nucleus either with an extreme proton-neutron ratio close to the drip lines or highly excited nuclei is quite challenging. For these calculations, the nuclear energy density functional (NEDF) theory is standing as the most prominent and successful theoretical tool with its capability to make calculations for nuclei throughout the nuclear chart. However, the nuclear energy density functional theory is not complete and needs to be developed to study the nuclear ground-state properties and the excited states of nuclei, especially for nuclei near the drip lines. Therefore, the development of the nuclear energy density functionals and the relevant theoretical methods to explore the nuclear properties under extreme conditions constitute the main framework of my research.