The spectroscopic properties play a crucial role in understanding the structure of nuclei, in particular, the shape and shape transitions of nuclei. In recent years, the exotic shapes of nuclear systems, such as the rod and pear shapes, have attracted a lot of attention. Covariant density functional theory (CDFT) has become a standard tool for nuclear structure calculations, and it provides a global and accurate description of nuclear ground states and excitations. In the present paper, we briefly review the recent progress in covariant density functional theory (DFT) for spectroscopic properties of the rod- and pear-shaped nuclei with the cranking calculations in a rotating mean field and the collective Hamiltonian method beyond mean field. The novel linear-chain structure of alpha clustering is discussed with the cranking approach, and low lying spectra of pear-shaped nuclei are illustrated with the quadrupole–octupole collective Hamiltonian.
Searching for a4αlinear-chain structure in excited states ofO16with covariant density functional theory