Effective Field Theory for Bulk Properties of Nuclei

Recent progress in Lorentz-covariant quantum field theories of the nuclear many-body problem ({\em quantum hadrodynamics}, or QHD) is discussed. The importance of modern perspectives in effective field theory and density functional theory for understanding the successes of QHD is emphasized. The inclusion of hadronic electromagnetic structure and of nonanalytic terms in the energy functional is also considered.Comment: 11 pages, 0 figures, REVTeX 3.0; Invited talk at the 11th Conference on Recent Progress in Many-Body Theories (MB 11), Manchester, UK, July 9--13, 200

Building Atomic Nuclei with the Dirac Equation

The relevance of the Dirac equation for computations of nuclear structure is motivated and discussed. Quantitatively successful results for medium- and heavy-mass nuclei are described, and modern ideas of effective field theory and density functional theory are used to justify them.Comment: 9 pages, REVTeX 4.0 with 12pt.rtx, aps.rtx, amssymb.tex, bm.sty, ntgdefs.tex. Contribution to the Dirac Centennial Symposium (FSU, 12/6-7/02