Microscopic Calculation of Fission
Fragment Mass Distributions at
Increasing Excitation Energies
Nicolas Schunck, Zachary Matheson, and David Regnier
1 Introduction
In spite of numerous practical applications, e.g., for energy production, a comprehensive understanding of nuclear fission based on our best knowledge of nuclear
forces and quantum many-body methods remains elusive. In recent years, increases
in computational power have triggered a renaissance of microscopic fission theory
[1]. A lot of emphasis has been put on the calculation of spontaneous fission
half-lives, which are key to predicting the stability of superheavy elements [2–6].
Several groups have also developed tools to compute primary charge and mass
distributions (before the prompt neutron emission from the fragments) [7–12]. With
the recent exception of [13], most of these applications have been restricted to the
low-energy regime where the fissioning nucleus is assumed to be well-described by
a zero-temperature formalism. Recent precision measurements, however, point to
a subtle and non-trivial dependence of the fission product yields on the excitation
N. Schunck ()
Nuclear and Chemical Science Division, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore,
CA, USA
e-mail: schunck1@llnl.gov
Z. Matheson
Department of Physics and Astronomy and FRIB Laboratory, Michigan State University, East
Lansing, MI, USA
e-mail: matheson@nscl.msu.edu
D. Regnier
Institut de Physique Nucléaire, IN2P3-CNRS, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay,
Orsay Cedex, France
e-mail: regnier@ipno.in2p3.fr
© This is a U.S. government work and not under copyright protection
in the U.S.; foreign copyright protection may apply 2021
J. Escher et al. (eds.), Compound-Nuclear Reactions, Springer Proceedings in
Physics 254, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58082-7_35
275
Fragment Mass Distributions at
Increasing Excitation Energies
Nicolas Schunck, Zachary Matheson, and David Regnier
1 Introduction
In spite of numerous practical applications, e.g., for energy production, a comprehensive understanding of nuclear fission based on our best knowledge of nuclear
forces and quantum many-body methods remains elusive. In recent years, increases
in computational power have triggered a renaissance of microscopic fission theory
[1]. A lot of emphasis has been put on the calculation of spontaneous fission
half-lives, which are key to predicting the stability of superheavy elements [2–6].
Several groups have also developed tools to compute primary charge and mass
distributions (before the prompt neutron emission from the fragments) [7–12]. With
the recent exception of [13], most of these applications have been restricted to the
low-energy regime where the fissioning nucleus is assumed to be well-described by
a zero-temperature formalism. Recent precision measurements, however, point to
a subtle and non-trivial dependence of the fission product yields on the excitation
N. Schunck ()
Nuclear and Chemical Science Division, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore,
CA, USA
e-mail: schunck1@llnl.gov
Z. Matheson
Department of Physics and Astronomy and FRIB Laboratory, Michigan State University, East
Lansing, MI, USA
e-mail: matheson@nscl.msu.edu
D. Regnier
Institut de Physique Nucléaire, IN2P3-CNRS, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay,
Orsay Cedex, France
e-mail: regnier@ipno.in2p3.fr
© This is a U.S. government work and not under copyright protection
in the U.S.; foreign copyright protection may apply 2021
J. Escher et al. (eds.), Compound-Nuclear Reactions, Springer Proceedings in
Physics 254, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58082-7_35
275