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Induced Fission of Pu240 within a Real-Time Microscopic Framework

Aurel Bulgac, Piotr Magierski, Kenneth J. Roche, and Ionel Stetcu
Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 122504 – Published 25 March 2016
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Abstract

We describe the fissioning dynamics of Pu240 from a configuration in the proximity of the outer fission barrier to full scission and the formation of the fragments within an implementation of density functional theory extended to superfluid systems and real-time dynamics. The fission fragments emerge with properties similar to those determined experimentally, while the fission dynamics appears to be quite complex, with many excited shape and pairing modes. The evolution is found to be much slower than previously expected, and the ultimate role of the collective inertia is found to be negligible in this fully nonadiabatic treatment of nuclear dynamics, where all collective degrees of freedom (CDOF) are included (unlike adiabatic treatments with a small number of CDOF).

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  • Received 2 November 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.122504

© 2016 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Nuclear Physics

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Fission Takes Its Time

Published 25 March 2016

Nuclear fission simulations show that the evolution of a splitting plutonium nucleus may be slower than previously thought.

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Authors & Affiliations

Aurel Bulgac1, Piotr Magierski1,2, Kenneth J. Roche1,3, and Ionel Stetcu4

  • 1Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-1560, USA
  • 2Faculty of Physics, Warsaw University of Technology, ulica Koszykowa 75, 00-662 Warsaw, Poland
  • 3Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA
  • 4Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA

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Issue

Vol. 116, Iss. 12 — 25 March 2016

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