ROTATIONS IN NUCLEI - A SEMICLASSICAL DESCRIPTION

An explicit formulation of extended Thomas-Fermi density functionals relevant to a microscopic description of rotating nuclei within the Skyrme Hartree-Fock formalism, is presented up to order h2BAR. Simple analytical expressions have been obtained for the dynamical moments of inertia within this semiclassical framework. Phenomena identical to Landau orbital diamagnetism and Pauli spin paramagnetism have been exhibited upon using standard Skyrme force parametrizations. Both effects almost cancel. As a result, the Thomas-Fermi moments of inertia, which assume explicitly the rigid-body expression, turn out to represent a rather good approximation of the semiclassical results. Finally the validity of the Inglis formula is discussed in this context.