Nuclear Fission and Tunneling Phenomena
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| Title: | Nuclear Fission and Tunneling Phenomena |
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| Authors: | Flynn, Eric Douglas |
| Committee Members: | Nazarewicz, Witek; Schatz, Hendrik; Bogner, Scott; Bazavov, Alexei; Rapinchuk, Ekaterina |
| Summary: | The fission of neutron-rich heavy, and superheavy, nuclei is hypothesized to impact $r$-process nucleosynthesis. However, the lack of experimental data for these nuclei demands theoretical predictions with quantified uncertainties. Nuclear energy density functional theory (DFT) has had success predicting fission lifetimes and yields for many $r$-process nuclei by representing the process as a tunneling problem in a collective space. In this dissertation, I will describe the current DFT framework we use and introduce an implementation of the nudged elastic band technique. I then discuss the application of the nudged elastic band to calculate fission lifetimes and yields to study nuclei with competing modes of fission. Then, I discuss recent progress towards improving our theoretical framework of fission using an instanton approach to model nuclear fission. Furthermore, I will highlight possible overlaps of this approach with nuclear dynamics. I propose an algorithm to find mean-field instanton solutions and I conclude with future directions for the instanton approach for nuclear fission and future applications of the nuclear DFT approach to fission lifetimes and yields. |
| URL: | https://doi.org/doi:10.25335/pdnw-zq48 |
| Database: | OpenDissertations |
| Abstract: | The fission of neutron-rich heavy, and superheavy, nuclei is hypothesized to impact $r$-process nucleosynthesis. However, the lack of experimental data for these nuclei demands theoretical predictions with quantified uncertainties. Nuclear energy density functional theory (DFT) has had success predicting fission lifetimes and yields for many $r$-process nuclei by representing the process as a tunneling problem in a collective space. In this dissertation, I will describe the current DFT framework we use and introduce an implementation of the nudged elastic band technique. I then discuss the application of the nudged elastic band to calculate fission lifetimes and yields to study nuclei with competing modes of fission. Then, I discuss recent progress towards improving our theoretical framework of fission using an instanton approach to model nuclear fission. Furthermore, I will highlight possible overlaps of this approach with nuclear dynamics. I propose an algorithm to find mean-field instanton solutions and I conclude with future directions for the instanton approach for nuclear fission and future applications of the nuclear DFT approach to fission lifetimes and yields. |
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