Brownian Shape Motion on Five-Dimensional Potential-Energy Surfaces:Nuclear Fission-Fragment Mass Distributions

Jørgen Randrup and Peter Möller
Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 132503 – Published 30 March 2011

Abstract

Although nuclear fission can be understood qualitatively as an evolution of the nuclear shape, a quantitative description has proven to be very elusive. In particular, until now, there existed no model with demonstrated predictive power for the fission-fragment mass yields. Exploiting the expected strongly damped character of nuclear dynamics, we treat the nuclear shape evolution in analogy with Brownian motion and perform random walks on five-dimensional fission potential-energy surfaces which were calculated previously and are the most comprehensive available. Test applications give good reproduction of highly variable experimental mass yields. This novel general approach requires only a single new global parameter, namely, the critical neck size at which the mass split is frozen in, and the results are remarkably insensitive to its specific value.

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  • Received 1 December 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.132503

© 2011 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Jørgen Randrup1 and Peter Möller2

  • 1Nuclear Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
  • 2Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA

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Issue

Vol. 106, Iss. 13 — 1 April 2011

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