No Arabic abstract
Background: Nuclear fission is a complex large-amplitude collective decay mode in heavy nuclei. Microscopic density functional studies of fission have previously concentrated on adiabatic approaches based on constrained static calculations ignoring dynamical excitations of the fissioning nucleus, and the daughter products. Purpose: To explore the ability of dynamic mean-field methods to describe fast fission processes beyond the fission barrier, using the nuclide $^{240}$Pu as an example. Methods: Time-dependent Hartree-Fock calculations based on the Skyrme interaction are used to calculate non-adiabatic fission paths, beginning from static constrained Hartree-Fock calculations. The properties of the dynamic states are interpreted in terms of the nature of their collective motion. Fission product properties are compared to data. Results: Parent nuclei constrained to begin dynamic evolution with a deformation less than the fission barrier exhibit giant-resonance-type behaviour. Those beginning just beyond the barrier explore large amplitude motion but do not fission, whereas those beginning beyond the two-fragment pathway crossing fission to final states which differ according to the exact initial deformation. Conclusions: Time-dependent Hartree-Fock is able to give a good qualitative and quantitative description of fast fission, provided one begins from a sufficiently deformed state.
Background: Nuclear fission is a complex large-amplitude collective decay mode in heavy nuclei. Microscopic density functional studies of fission have previously concentrated on adiabatic approaches based on constrained static calculations ignoring dynamical excitations of the fissioning nucleus, and the daughter products. Purpose: To explore the ability of dynamic mean-field methods to describe induced fission processes, using quadrupole boosts in the nuclide $^{240}$Pu as an example. Methods: Quadrupole constrained Hartree-Fock calculations are used to create a potential energy surface. An isomeric state and a state beyond the second barrier peak are excited by means of instantaneous as well as temporally extended gauge boosts with quadrupole shapes. The subsequent deexcitation is studied in a time-dependent Hartree-Fock simulation, with emphasis on fissioned final states. The corresponding fission fragment mass numbers are studied. Results: In general, the energy deposited by the quadrupole boost is quickly absorbed by the nucleus. In instantaneous boosts, this leads to fast shape rearrangements and violent dynamics that can ultimately lead to fission. This is a qualitatively different process than the deformation-induced fission. Boosts induced within a finite time window excite the system in a relatively gentler way, and do induce fission but with a smaller energy deposition. Conclusions: The fission products obtained using boost-induced fission in time-dependent Hartree-Fock are more asymmetric than the fragments obtained in deformation-induced fission, or the corresponding adiabatic approaches.
We study the equilibration and relaxation processes within the time-dependent Hartree-Fock approach using the Wigner distribution function. On the technical side we present a geometrically unrestricted framework which allows us to calculate the full six-dimensional Wigner distribution function. With the removal of geometrical constraints, we are now able to extend our previous phase-space analysis of heavy-ion collisions in the reaction plane to unrestricted mean-field simulations of nuclear matter on a three-dimensional Cartesian lattice. From the physical point of view we provide a quantitative analysis on the stopping power in TDHF. This is linked to the effect of transparency. For the medium-heavy $^{40}$Ca+$^{40}$Ca system we examine the impact of different parametrizations of the Skyrme force, energy-dependence, and the significance of extra time-odd terms in the Skyrme functional. For the first time, transparency in TDHF is observed for a heavy system, $^{24}$Mg+$^{208}$Pb.
We discuss properties of the method based on time dependent superfluid local density approximation (TDSLDA) within an application to induced fission of 240Pu and surrounding nuclei. Various issues related to accuracy of time evolution and the determination of the properties of fission fragments are discussed.
Fission-related phenomena of heavy $Lambda$ hypernuclei are discussed with the constraint Skyrme-Hartree-Fock+BCS (SHF+BCS) method, in which a similar Skyrme-type interaction is employed also for the interaction between a $Lambda$ particle and a nucleon. Assuming that the $Lambda$ particle adiabatically follows the fission motion, we discuss the fission barrier height of $^{239}_{Lambda}$U. We find that the fission barrier height increases slightly when the $Lambda$ particle occupies the lowest level. In this case, the $Lambda$ particle is always attached to the heavier fission fragment. This indicates that one may produce heavy neutron-rich $Lambda$ hypernuclei through fission, whose weak decay is helpful for the nuclear transmutation of long-lived fission products. We also discuss cases where the $Lambda$ particle occupies a higher single-particle level.
Background: The Density-constraint Time-dependent Hartree-Fock method is currently the tool of choice to predict fusion cross-sections. However, it does not include pairing correlations, which have been found recently to play an important role. Purpose: To describe the fusion cross-section with a method that includes the superfluidity and to understand the impact of pairing on both the fusion barrier and cross-section. Method: The density-constraint method is tested first on the following reactions without pairing, $^{16}$O+$^{16}$O and $^{40}$Ca+$^{40}$Ca. A new method is developed, the Density-constraint Time-dependent Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov method. Using the Gogny-TDHFB code, it is applied to the reactions $^{20}$O+$^{20}$O and $^{44}$Ca+$^{44}$Ca. Results: The Gogny approach for systems without pairing reproduces the experimental data well. The DC-TDHFB method is coherent with the TDHFB fusion threshold. The effect of the phase-lock mechanism is shown for those reactions. Conclusions: The DC-TDHFB method is a useful new tool to determine the fusion potential between superfluid systems and to deduce their fusion cross-sections.