Microscopic description of rotation: from ground states to the extremes of ultra-high spin
Recent progress in the microscopic description of rotational properties within covariant density functional theory (CDFT) is presented. It is shown that this method provides an accurate description of rotational bands both in the paired regime at low spin and in the unpaired regime at ultra-high spins. The predictive power of CDFT is verified by comparing the CDFT predictions for band crossing features in the A ⩾ 242 ?> actinides with new experimental data. In addition, the possible role of the Coulomb antipairing effect for proton pairing is discussed.