  The nuclear density functional framework, based on chiral dynamics and the
symmetry breaking pattern of low-energy QCD, is extended to the description of
collective nuclear excitations. Starting from the relativistic point-coupling
Lagrangian previously introduced [Nucl. Phys. A770 (2006) 1], the
proton-neutron (quasiparticle) random phase approximation is formulated and
applied to investigate the role of chiral pion-nucleon dynamics in excitation
modes involving spin and isospin degrees of freedom, e.g. isobaric analog
states and Gamow-Teller resonances.
