Theory of Nuclear Fission

Abstract

Atomic nuclei are quantum many-body systems of protons and neutrons held together by strong nuclear forces. Under the proper conditions, nuclei can break into two (sometimes three) fragments which will subsequently decay by emitting particles. This phenomenon is called nuclear fission. Since different fission events may produce different fragmentations, the end-products of all fissions that occurred in a small chemical sample of matter comprise hundreds of different isotopes, including $\alpha$ particles, together with a large number of emitted neutrons, photons, electrons and antineutrinos. The extraordinary complexity of this process, which happens at length scales of the order of a femtometer, mostly takes less than a femtosecond but is not completely over until all the lingering $\beta$ decays have completed - which can take years - is a fascinating window into the physics of atomic nuclei. While fission may be more naturally known in the context of its technological applications, it also plays a pivotal role in the synthesis of heavy elements in astrophysical environments. In both cases, experimental measurements are not sufficient to provide complete data. Simulations are needed, yet at levels of accuracy and precision that pose formidable challenges to nuclear theory. The goal of this article is to provide a comprehensive overview of the theoretical methods employed in the description of nuclear fission.

106 pages, 28 figures, 1 table, 513 references; submitted for publication in Progress in Nuclear and Particle Physics

References in corpus (58)

• The Reactor Antineutrino Anomaly
• New parametrization for the nuclear covariant energy density functional with point-coupling interaction
• The Skyrme Interaction in finite nuclei and nuclear matter
• Brownian shape motion on five-dimensional potential-energy surfaces: Nuclear fission-fragment mass distributions
• Particle transfer reactions with the time-dependent Hartree-Fock theory using a particle number projection technique
• Particle-Number Projection and the Density Functional Theory
• A Stochastic Mean-Field Approach For Nuclear Dynamics
• Uncertainty Quantification for Nuclear Density Functional Theory and Information Content of New Measurements
• Fission Barriers of Compound Superheavy Nuclei
• TDHF Theory and Its Extensions for the Multinucleon Transfer Reaction: a Mini Review
• Structure properties of ${}^{226}$Th and ${}^{256,258,260}$Fm fission fragments: mean field analysis with the Gogny force
• Surface Symmetry Energy of Nuclear Energy Density Functionals
• Pairing-induced speedup of nuclear spontaneous fission
• Khon-Sham Density Functional Inspired Approach to Nuclear Binding
• Properties of heaviest nuclei with $98\le Z\le 126$ and $134\le N\le 192$
• Dynamic versus static fission paths with realistic interactions
• Fission Fragment Decay Simulations with the CGMF Code
• Microscopic study of induced fission dynamics of ${}^{226}$Th with covariant energy density functionals
• Timescales of quantum equilibration, dissipation and fluctuation in nuclear collisions
• Generation of fragment angular momentum in fission
• Astromers: Nuclear Isomers in Astrophysics
• Final excitation energy of fission fragments
• Systematic Study of Fission Barriers of Excited Superheavy Nuclei
• Projection on particle number and angular momentum: Example of triaxial Bogoliubov quasiparticle states
• Fission fragments intrinsic spins and their correlations
• Global microscopic calculations of ground-state spin and parity for odd-mass nuclei
• Analysis of the total kinetic energy of fission fragments with the Langevin equation
• Non-empirical pairing energy functional in nuclear matter and finite nuclei
• Angular Momentum of Fission Fragments from Microscopic Theory
• The time-dependent generator coordinate method in nuclear physics
• Fission Cycling in a Supernova r-process
• Time-dependent generator coordinate method study of mass-asymmetric fission of actinides
• Non-empirical pairing functional
• Limits on Sub-GeV Dark Matter from the PROSPECT Reactor Antineutrino Experiment
• Study of angular momentum effects in fission
• Formation and distribution of fragments in the spontaneous fission of 240Pu
• Extension of the Hauser-Feshbach Fission Fragment Decay Model to Multi-Chance Fission
• Late Time Emission of Prompt Fission Gamma Rays
• Time Dependent Pairing Equations for Seniority One Nuclear Systems
• Microscopic Calculation of Fission Product Yields with Particle Number Projection
• Static fission properties of actinide nuclei
• Microscopic Derivation of Collective Hamiltonian by Means of the Adiabatic Self-Consistent Collective Coordinate Method
• Finite-amplitude method for collective inertia in spontaneous fission
• Nuclear fission with mean-field instantons
• Calculated fission-fragment mass yields and average total kinetic energies of heavy and superheavy nuclei
• Role of dynamic pairing correlations in fission dynamics
• Improved modeling of photon observables with FREYA
• Microscopic description of pair transfer between two superfluid systems (II): a quantum mixing of Time-Dependent Hartree-Fock Bogolyubov trajectories
• Microscopic derivation of the Bohr-Mottelson collective Hamiltonian and its application to quadrupole shape dynamics
• Finite- to zero-range relativistic mean-field interactions
• Improvements to the macroscopic-microscopic approach of nuclear fission
• Bayesian Analysis of a Future Beta Decay Experiment's Sensitivity to Neutrino Mass Scale and Ordering
• Multi-dimensional fission model with a complex absorbing potential
• Generator coordinate method with a conjugate momentum: application to the particle number projection
• Correlations Between Fission Fragment and Neutron Anisotropies in Neutron-Induced Fission
• Influence of non-statistical properties in nuclear structure on emission of prompt fission neutrons
• Least action and the maximum-coupling approximations in the theory of spontaneous fission
• Instanton-motivated study of spontaneous fission of odd-A nuclei

Cited by in corpus (32)

• Imaging Shapes of Atomic Nuclei in High-Energy Nuclear Collisions
• Nucleosynthesis and observation of the heaviest elements
• Hexadecapole deformation of ${}^{238}$U from relativistic heavy-ion collisions using a nonlinear response coefficient
• Fission dynamics, dissipation and clustering at finite temperature
• Skyrme-Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov mass models on a 3D mesh. IIb. Fission properties of BSkG2
• Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov study of quantum shell effects on the path to fission in ${}^{180}$Hg, ${}^{236}$U and ${}^{256}$Fm
• Extended time-dependent generator coordinate method study of induced fission (II): total kinetic energy distribution
• Fourier-over-Spheroid shape parametrization applied to nuclear fission dynamics
• Neural Network Emulation of Spontaneous Fission
• Generation, dynamics, and correlations of the fission fragments' angular momenta
• Shell Effects in Quasi-fission in Reactions Forming 226Th Compound Nucleus
• Quantum fluctuations induce collective multiphonons in finite Fermi liquids
• Microscopic Calculation of Fission Product Yields for Odd-Mass Nuclei
• Nuclear Quantum Many-Body Dynamics: From Collective Vibrations to Heavy-Ion Collisions (2nd edition)
• Building Surrogate Models of Nuclear Density Functional Theory with Gaussian Processesand Autoencoders
• Controlling extrapolations of nuclear properties with feature selection
• Experimental evidence of the effect of nuclear shells on fission dissipation and time
• Time-dependent density functional theory study of induced-fission dynamics of ${}^{226}$Th
• Ground state and fission properties of even-$A$ uranium isotopes from multidimensionally-constrained relativistic mean field model
• Three-dimensional potential energy surface for fission of ${}^{236}$U within covariant density functional theory
• Cluster properties of heavy nuclei predicted with the Barcelona-Catania-Paris-Madrid energy density functional
• Impact of choices for center-of-mass correction energy on the surface energy of Skyrme energy density functionals
• Instrumentation for correlated prompt $n$-$\gamma$ emission studies in coincidence with fission fragments
• Nuclear Reactions in Evolving Stars
• Microscopic theory of angular momentum distributions across the full range of fission fragments
• A microscopic calculation of fission cross sections with the non-equilibrium Green function method
• Shell effects in quasifission toward ${}^{180}\mathrm{Hg}$: insights into fission asymmetric modes
• Isotopic fission yields of ${}^{240}$Pu as a function of the excitation energy
• Isomeric yield ratios and mass spectrometry of Y and Nb isotopes in the neutron-rich N=60 region: the unusual case of ${}^{98}$Y
• Two-center harmonic oscillator basis for Skyrme-DFT calculations (I): formalism and Proof of Principle
• A critical assessment of the current implementations of the Generator Coordinate Method
• Generation of fission yield covariance matrices and its application in uncertainty analysis of decay heat