119 research outputs found
Fission modes of mercury isotopes
Background: Recent experiments on beta-delayed fission in the mercury-lead
region and the discovery of asym- metric fission in 180 Hg [1] have stimulated
theoretical interest in the mechanism of fission in heavy nuclei. Purpose: We
study fission modes and fusion valleys in 180 Hg and 198 Hg to reveal the role
of shell effects in pre-scission region and explain the experimentally observed
fragment mass asymmetry and its variation with A. Methods: We use the
self-consistent nuclear density functional theory employing Skyrme and Gogny
energy density functionals. Results: The potential energy surfaces in
multi-dimensional space of collective coordinates, including elongation,
triaxiality, reflection-asymmetry, and necking, are calculated for 180 Hg and
198 Hg. The asymmetric fission valleys - well separated from fusion valleys
associated with nearly spherical fragments - are found in in both cases. The
density distributions at scission configurations are studied and related to the
experimentally observed mass splits. Conclusions: The energy density
functionals SkM\ast and D1S give a very consistent description of the fission
process in 180 Hg and 198 Hg. We predict a transition from asymmetric fission
in 180 Hg towards more symmetric distribution of fission fragments in 198 Hg.
For 180 Hg, both models yield 100 Ru/80 Kr as the most probable split. For 198
Hg, the most likely split is 108 Ru/90 Kr in HFB-D1S and 110 Ru/88 Kr in
HFB-SkM\ast.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, to be published in Physical Review
Fission barriers in covariant density functional theory: extrapolation to superheavy nuclei
Systematic calculations of fission barriers allowing for triaxial deformation
are performed for even-even superheavy nuclei with charge number
using three classes of covariant density functional models. The softness of
nuclei in the triaxial plane leads to an emergence of several competing fission
pathes in the region of the inner fission barrier in some of these nuclei. The
outer fission barriers are considerably affected by triaxiality and octupole
deformation. General trends of the evolution of the inner and the outer fission
barrier heights are discussed as a function of the particle numbers.Comment: 24 pages, 8 tables, 12 figure
Computing Heavy Elements
Reliable calculations of the structure of heavy elements are crucial to
address fundamental science questions such as the origin of the elements in the
universe. Applications relevant for energy production, medicine, or national
security also rely on theoretical predictions of basic properties of atomic
nuclei. Heavy elements are best described within the nuclear density functional
theory (DFT) and its various extensions. While relatively mature, DFT has never
been implemented in its full power, as it relies on a very large number (~
10^9-10^12) of expensive calculations (~ day). The advent of leadership-class
computers, as well as dedicated large-scale collaborative efforts such as the
SciDAC 2 UNEDF project, have dramatically changed the field. This article gives
an overview of the various computational challenges related to the nuclear DFT,
as well as some of the recent achievements.Comment: Proceeding of the Invited Talk given at the SciDAC 2011 conference,
Jul. 10-15, 2011, Denver, C
Augmented Lagrangian Method for Constrained Nuclear Density Functional Theory
The augmented Lagrangiam method (ALM), widely used in quantum chemistry
constrained optimization problems, is applied in the context of the nuclear
Density Functional Theory (DFT) in the self-consistent constrained Skyrme
Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (CHFB) variant. The ALM allows precise calculations of
multidimensional energy surfaces in the space of collective coordinates that
are needed to, e.g., determine fission pathways and saddle points; it improves
accuracy of computed derivatives with respect to collective variables that are
used to determine collective inertia; and is well adapted to supercomputer
applications.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures; to appear in Eur. Phys. J.
Solution of the Skyrme-Hartree-Fock-Bogolyubov equations in the Cartesian deformed harmonic-oscillator basis. (VII) HFODD (v2.49t): a new version of the program
We describe the new version (v2.49t) of the code HFODD which solves the
nuclear Skyrme Hartree-Fock (HF) or Skyrme Hartree-Fock-Bogolyubov (HFB)
problem by using the Cartesian deformed harmonic-oscillator basis. In the new
version, we have implemented the following physics features: (i) the isospin
mixing and projection, (ii) the finite temperature formalism for the HFB and
HF+BCS methods, (iii) the Lipkin translational energy correction method, (iv)
the calculation of the shell correction. A number of specific numerical methods
have also been implemented in order to deal with large-scale multi-constraint
calculations and hardware limitations: (i) the two-basis method for the HFB
method, (ii) the Augmented Lagrangian Method (ALM) for multi-constraint
calculations, (iii) the linear constraint method based on the approximation of
the RPA matrix for multi-constraint calculations, (iv) an interface with the
axial and parity-conserving Skyrme-HFB code HFBTHO, (v) the mixing of the HF or
HFB matrix elements instead of the HF fields. Special care has been paid to
using the code on massively parallel leadership class computers. For this
purpose, the following features are now available with this version: (i) the
Message Passing Interface (MPI) framework, (ii) scalable input data routines,
(iii) multi-threading via OpenMP pragmas, (iv) parallel diagonalization of the
HFB matrix in the simplex breaking case using the ScaLAPACK library. Finally,
several little significant errors of the previous published version were
corrected.Comment: Accepted for publication to Computer Physics Communications. Program
files re-submitted to Comp. Phys. Comm. Program Library after correction of
several minor bug
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