Bright Future Ahead: Achievement in Nuclear Reaction Theory
A newly developed theory explains the production mechanism of a whole set of abundant isotopes in collisions of two atomic nuclei. Production of yet-unknown, unstable nuclei is of paramount importance to answer fundamental questions: Do existing models properly describe physics of extremely unstable nuclei? How were the elements heavier than iron produced in the Universe? What is the heaviest element in nature? However, the production at laboratories is not easy and obvious, and a reliable theoretical prediction is mandatory. In the paper, researchers put a great step forward. They have newly developed a theoretical framework that combines 1) a state-of-the-art quantum many-body theory that incorporates with quantal fluctuations, called Stochastic Mean Field (SMF) theory, with 2) an elaborated statistical model that describes secondary decays (particle evaporation and fission) of produced “hot” fragments. With the hybrid theory it is shown that a complete set of experimental data for collisions of nickel and lead nuclei can be reproduced non-empirically, without adjustable parameters―it makes the theory distinctive and special as compared to many other phenomenological models on the market. The predictive theory will lead us to terra incognita―bright future ahead for nuclear experiments.
Movie: Real-time density evolution in the reaction plane for a collision of Nickel-64 with Lead-208 at Ecm=268 MeV with L=50 hbar.
Figure: Comparison of secondary production cross sections between experimental data (red points) and the new (blue line) and previous (red line) theories.
This article is an outreach summary of our paper: K. Sekizawa and S. Ayik, Quantal diffusion approach for multinucleon transfer processes in the 58,64Ni+208Pb reactions: Toward the production of unknown neutron-rich nuclei, Phys. Rev. C 102, 014620 (2020).
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevC.102.014620
arXiv:2003.07786 [nucl-th] (https://arxiv.org/abs/2003.07786)
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