  Reliable predictions of the static and dynamic properties of a nucleus
require a fully microscopic description of both ground and excited states of
this complicated many-body quantum system. Predictive calculations are key to
understanding such systems and are important ingredients for simulating stellar
environments and for enabling a variety of contemporary nuclear applications.
Challenges that theory has to address include accounting for nuclear
deformation and the ability to describe medium-mass and heavy nuclei. Here, we
perform a study of nuclear states in an Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) and
Quasiparticle Random Phase Approximation (QRPA) framework that utilizes an
axially-symmetric deformed basis. We present some useful techniques for testing
the consistency of such calculations and for interpreting the results.
