Microscopic calculations of beta decay far from stability

Beta decay properties of nuclei far from stability are of decisive importance for the understanding of the element synthesis in the universe and the determination of the age of the universe by means of cosmochronometers. A new large scale microscopic calculation of β--decay half-lives up to the neutron drip line is presented. This new approach uses the proton-neutron quasiparticle random phase approximation with a Gamow-Teller residual interaction. (orig.)