Abstract
We describe the fissioning dynamics of 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).
- Received 2 November 2015
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.122504
© 2016 American Physical Society
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Synopsis
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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