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Title: Nucleon localization and fragment formation in nuclear fission

Abstract

An electron localization measure was originally introduced to characterize chemical bond structures in molecules. Recently, a nucleon localization based on Hartree-Fock densities has been introduced to investigate α-cluster structures in light nuclei. Compared to the local nucleonic densities, the nucleon localization function has been shown to be an excellent indicator of shell effects and cluster correlations. In this work, using the spatial nucleon localization measure, we investigated the emergence of fragments in fissioning heavy nuclei using the self-consistent energy density functional method with a quantified energy density functional optimized for fission studies. We studied the particle densities and spatial nucleon localization distributions along the fission pathways of 264Fm, 232Th, and 240Pu. We demonstrated that the fission fragments were formed fairly early in the evolution, well before scission. To illustrate the usefulness of the localization measure, we showed how the hyperdeformed state of 232Th could be understood in terms of a quasimolecular state made of 132Sn and 100Zr fragments. Compared to nucleonic distributions, the nucleon localization function more effectively quantifies nucleonic clustering: its characteristic oscillating pattern, traced back to shell effects, is a clear fingerprint of cluster/fragment configurations. This is of particular interest for studies of fragment formation and fragment identificationmore » in fissioning nuclei.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [2]
  1. Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States). National Superconducting Cyclotron Lab., Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (NSCL/FRIB)
  2. Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States). Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), Dept. of Physics and Astronomy; Univ. of Warsaw (Poland). Inst. of Theoretical Physics
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Office of Science (SC)
OSTI Identifier:
1358654
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1338107
Grant/Contract Number:  
NA0002847; SC0013365; SC0008511
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physical Review C
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 94; Journal Issue: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 2469-9985
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY

Citation Formats

Zhang, C. L., Schuetrumpf, B., and Nazarewicz, W. Nucleon localization and fragment formation in nuclear fission. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevC.94.064323.
Zhang, C. L., Schuetrumpf, B., & Nazarewicz, W. Nucleon localization and fragment formation in nuclear fission. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.94.064323
Zhang, C. L., Schuetrumpf, B., and Nazarewicz, W. Tue . "Nucleon localization and fragment formation in nuclear fission". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.94.064323. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1358654.
@article{osti_1358654,
title = {Nucleon localization and fragment formation in nuclear fission},
author = {Zhang, C. L. and Schuetrumpf, B. and Nazarewicz, W.},
abstractNote = {An electron localization measure was originally introduced to characterize chemical bond structures in molecules. Recently, a nucleon localization based on Hartree-Fock densities has been introduced to investigate α-cluster structures in light nuclei. Compared to the local nucleonic densities, the nucleon localization function has been shown to be an excellent indicator of shell effects and cluster correlations. In this work, using the spatial nucleon localization measure, we investigated the emergence of fragments in fissioning heavy nuclei using the self-consistent energy density functional method with a quantified energy density functional optimized for fission studies. We studied the particle densities and spatial nucleon localization distributions along the fission pathways of 264Fm, 232Th, and 240Pu. We demonstrated that the fission fragments were formed fairly early in the evolution, well before scission. To illustrate the usefulness of the localization measure, we showed how the hyperdeformed state of 232Th could be understood in terms of a quasimolecular state made of 132Sn and 100Zr fragments. Compared to nucleonic distributions, the nucleon localization function more effectively quantifies nucleonic clustering: its characteristic oscillating pattern, traced back to shell effects, is a clear fingerprint of cluster/fragment configurations. This is of particular interest for studies of fragment formation and fragment identification in fissioning nuclei.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevC.94.064323},
journal = {Physical Review C},
number = 6,
volume = 94,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Dec 27 00:00:00 EST 2016},
month = {Tue Dec 27 00:00:00 EST 2016}
}

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Cited by: 47 works
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Works referencing / citing this record:

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