Dominique Vautherin

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Dominique Vautherin (born October 30, 1941 in Bois-Colombes near Paris , † December 7, 2000 in Paris) was a French theoretical nuclear physicist .

Vautherin studied at the École polytechnique from 1961 to 1963 , then carried out research for the Center national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) and in 1969 at the University of Paris-Süd in Orsay with Marcel Vénéroni on Hartree-Fock calculations for an interaction of finite range with saturation in cores with closed shells. Shortly thereafter, he began working with David M. Brink on Hartree-Fock calculations with Skyrme interaction (introduced by Tony Skyrme ), initially for spherical nuclei, then extended by Vautherin to deformed nuclei. Together with colleagues, he later carried out calculations with Skyrme interaction, among other things for giant resonances and nuclear fission.

He was a professor in the theory department of the Institute for Nuclear Physics in Orsay, which he headed from 1991 to 1995. From 1972 to 1974 he was visiting scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with John Negele and in 1976/77 at the University of California, Berkeley . From 1976 to 1991 he was also a lecturer ( Maître de conférences ) at the École polytechnique. In 1998 he changed to a professorship at the University of Pierre and Marie Curie ( Université Paris VI ).

In the 1970s he worked with John Negele on local density approximation (LDA) development in nuclear structure studies. He worked a lot with Hubert Flocard and Nicole Vinh Mau ( random phase approximation at finite temperature). Vautherin later also studied neutron star matter (and the transition from nuclear matter to the densities found in neutron stars) in nuclear astrophysics . With Paul Bonche, he investigated the equation of state of matter in supernova explosions. With Paul and Shimon Levit he investigated hot kernels and most recently with Cécile Martin and Arthur Kerman, among others, solutions of Yang Mills theories with methods of variation.

In 1975 he received the Prix ​​Paul Langevin , in 2000 the Gay Lussac Humboldt Prize and in 1991 the Grand Prix Jean Richard . From 1999 he was head of the European Center for Theoretical Studies in Nuclear Physics and Related Areas (ECT) in Trieste .

source

  • Obituary by David M. Brink in Nuclear Physics News. Volume 11, 2001, No. 1, p. 38
  • M. Soyeur et al. a., Nuclear Physics A, Volume 690, 2001, p. 331

Individual evidence

  1. ^ D. Vautherin, DM Brink: Hartree-Fock Calculations with Skyrme's Interaction. I. Spherical Nuclei . In: Physical Review C . tape 5 , no. 3 , March 1972, p. 626-647 , doi : 10.1103 / PhysRevC.5.626 .
  2. ^ JW Negele, D. Vautherin: Density-Matrix Expansion for an Effective Nuclear Hamiltonian . In: Physical Review C . tape 5 , no. 5 , May 1972, p. 1472-1493 , doi : 10.1103 / PhysRevC.5.1472 .
personal data
SURNAME Vautherin, Dominique
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French theoretical nuclear physicist
DATE OF BIRTH October 30, 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH Bois-Colombes near Paris
DATE OF DEATH December 7, 2000
Place of death Paris