No Arabic abstract
Background: Spontaneous fission events emit prompt neutrons correlated with one another in emission angle and energy. Purpose: We explore the relationship in energy and angle between correlated prompt neutrons emitted from 252Cf spontaneous fission. Methods: Measurements with the Chi-Nu array provide experimental data for coincident neutrons tagged with a fission chamber signal with 10 degree angular resolution and 1 ns timing resolution for time-of-flight energy calculations. The experimental results are compared to simulations produced by the fission event generators CGMF, FREYA, and MCNPX-POLIMI IPOL(1)=1. Results: We find that the measurements and the simulations all exhibit anisotropic neutron emission, though differences exist between fission event generators. Conclusions: This work shows that the dependence of detected neutron energy on the energy of a neutron detected in coincidence, although weak, is non-negligible, indicating that there may be correlations in energy between two neutrons emitted in the same fission event.
The emission of neutrons and gamma rays by fission fragments reveal important information about the properties of fragments immediately following scission. The initial fragment properties, correlations between fragments, and emission competition give rise to correlations in neutron-gamma emission. Neutron-gamma correlations are important in nonproliferation applications because the characterization of fissionable samples relies on the identification of signatures in the measured radiation. Furthermore, recent theoretical and experimental advances have proposed to explain the mechanism of angular momentum generation in fission. In this paper, we present a novel analysis method of neutrons and gamma rays emitted by fission fragments that allows us to discern structure in the observed correlations. We have analyzed data collected on ce{^{252}Cf}(sf) at the Chi-Nu array at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center. Through our analysis of the energy-differential neutron-gamma multiplicity covariance, we have observed enhanced neutron-gamma correlations, corresponding to rotational band gamma-ray transitions, at gamma-ray energies of $0.7$ and $1.2$ MeV. To shed light on the origin of this structure, we compare the experimental data with the predictions of three model calculations. The origin of the observed correlation structure is understood in terms of a positive spin-energy correlation in the generation of angular momentum in fission.
Small uncertainties obtained for the Neutron Standards have been associated with possible missing correlations in the input data, with an incomplete uncertainty budget of the employed experimental database or with unrecognized uncertainty sources common to many measurements. While further detailed studies may improve the first two issues, the issue of potential unrecognized uncertainties and correlations between different experiments has long been neglected. We address this gap with a test-case study ons the evaluation of the total neutron multiplicity of the $^{252}$Cf(sf) source, which is included in the evaluation of the Thermal Neutron Constants within the Neutron Standards.
The time-dependent generator coordinate method with the gaussian overlap approximation (TDGCM+GOA) formalism is applied to describe the fission of $^{252}$Cf. We perform analysis of fission from the initial states laying in the energetic range from the ground state to the state located 4 MeV above the fission barrier. The fission fragment mass distributions, obtained for different parity, energy of levels and types of mixed states, are calculated and compared with experimental data. The impact of the total time of wave packet propagation on the final results is studied as well. The weak dependence of obtained mass yields on the initial conditions is shown.
We reinvestigated the neutron multiplicity yields of Ba-Mo, Ce-Zr, Te-Pd, and Nd-Sr from the spontaneous fission of $^{252}$Cf; by (i) using both $gamma$-$gamma$-$gamma$-$gamma$ and $gamma$-$gamma$-$gamma$ coincidence data, (ii) using up to date level scheme structures, and (iii) cross-checking analogous energy transitions in multiple isotopes, we have achieved higher precision than previous analyses. Particular attention was given to the Ba-Mo pairs where our results clearly confirm that the Ba-Mo yield data have a second hot fission mode where 8, 9, 10, and now 11 neutron evaporation channels are observed. These are the first observations of the 11 neutron channel. These 8-11 neutron channels are observed for the first time in the Ce-Zr pairs, but are not observed in other fission pairs. The measured intensities of the second mode in Ba-Mo and Ce-Zr pairs are $sim$1.5(4)$%$ and $sim$1.0(3)$%$, respectively. These high neutron number evaporation modes can be an indication of hyperdeformation and/or octupole deformation in $^{143-145}$Ba and in $^{146,148}$Ce at scission to give rise to such high neutron multiplicities.
The microscopic studies on nuclear fission require the evaluation of the potential energy surface as a function of the collective coordinates. A reasonable choice of constraints on multipole moments should be made to describe the topography of the surface completely within a reasonable amount of computing time. We present a detailed analysis of fission barriers in the self-consistent Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov approach with the D1S parametrization of the Gogny nucleon-nucleon interaction. Two heavy isotopes representing different spontaneous fission modes - $^{252}$Cf (asymmetric) and $^{258}$No (bimodal) - have been chosen for the analysis. We have shown the existence of complicated structures on the energy surface that can not be fully described in two-dimensional calculations. We analyze apparent problems that can be encountered in this type of calculations: multiple solutions for given constraints and transitions between various potential energy surfaces. We present possible solutions on how to deal with these issues.