We have investigated the presence of alpha-clustering in light nuclei within the mean field theory. It is found that a pronounced alpha-clustering can be present for very light nuclei, but goes away as the spin-orbit and Coulomb forces become more important. The possibility of chain-like alpha-cluster configurations in systems such as 12C and 16O was also investigated and it was found that such structures may be stabilized by rotation. A similar stabilization was observed in toroidal nuclei.

In related studies we found that the well-known pasta structure of nuclear matter is also reproduced by time-dependent calculations starting from an alpha gas, with usually rapid ap-proach to thermal equilibrium. This also opens the possibility of studying the stability of such structures with respect to collective vibrations.

The use of TDHF for collisions between heavy nuclei was recently supplemented by density-constraint calculations which allow the extraction of an interaction potential and can even be used to describe sub-barrier interactions. An overview of recent results is given.