MCNP6 Study of Fragmentation Products from 112Sn + 112Sn and 124Sn + 124Sn at 1 GeV/nucleon

Isotope production cross sections from 112Sn + 112Sn and 124Sn + 124Sn reactions at 1 GeV/nucleon, which were measured recently at GSI using the heavy-ion accelerator SIS18 and the Fragment Separator (FRS), have been analyzed with the latest Los Alamos Monte-Carlo transport code MCNP6 using the LAQGSM03.03 event generator. MCNP6 reproduces reasonably well all the measured cross sections. Comparison of the MCNP6 results with the measured data and with calculations by a modification of the Los Alamos version of the Quark-Gluon String Model allowing for multifragmentation processes in the framework of the Statistical Multifragmentation Model (SMM) by Botvina and coauthors, as realized in the code LAQGSM03.S1, does not suggest unambiguous evidence of a multifragmentation signature.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, Proc. 2013 International Conference on Nuclear Data for Science & Technology (ND2013), March 4-8, 2013, New York, USA, to be published in Nuclear Data Sheet

CEM2k - Recent Developments in CEM

Recent developments of the Cascade-Exciton Model (CEM) of nuclear reactions are briefly described. These changes are motivated by new data on isotope production measured recently in "reverse kinematics" at GSI for interactions of 208-Pb and 238-U at 1 GeV/nucleon and 197-Au at 800 MeV/nucleon with liquid 1-H. This study leads us to CEM2k, which is a new version of the CEM code that is still under development. The increased accuracy and predictive power of the code CEM2k are shown by several examples. Further necessary work is outlined.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, 1 table, LaTeX, submitted to Proc. 2000 ANS/ENS International Meeting, Nuclear Applications of Accelerator Technology (AccApp00), November 12-16, Washington, DC, US

Modeling Fission in the Cascade-Exciton Model

Recent developments of the Cascade-Exciton Model (CEM) of nuclear reactions to describe high energy particle induced fission are briefly described. The increased accuracy and predictive power of the CEM are shown by several examples. Further necessary work is outlined.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, LaTeX, Talk given at the Fourth Workshop on Simulating Accelerator Radiation Environments (SARE4), Knoxville, Tennessee, September 14-16, 199

Improved Cascade-Exciton Model of Nuclear Reactions

Recent improvements to the Cascade-Exciton Model (CEM) of nuclear reactions are briefly described. They concern mainly the cascade stage of reactions and a better description of nuclei during the preequilibrium and evaporation stages of reactions. The development of the CEM concerning fission is given in a separate talk at this conference. The increased accuracy and predictive power of the CEM are shown by several examples. Possible further improvements to the CEM and other models are discussed.Comment: 23 pages, 12 figures, LaTeX, Talk given at the Fourth Workshop on Simulating Accelerator Radiation Environments (SARE4), Knoxville, Tennessee, September 14-16, 199

The character and prevalence of third minima in actinide fission barriers

The double-humped structure of many actinide fission barriers is well established both experimentally and theoretically. There is also evidence, both experimental and theoretical, that some actinide nuclei have barriers with a third minimum, outside the second, fission-isomeric minimum. We perform a large-scale, systematic calculation of actinide fission barriers to identify which actinide nuclei exhibit third minima. We find that only a relatively few nuclei accessible to experiment exhibit third minima in their barriers, approximately nuclei with proton number $Z$ in the range $88 \leq Z \leq 94$ and nucleon number $A$ in the range $230 \leq A \leq 236$. We find that the third minimum is less than 1 MeV deep for light Th and U isotopes. This is consistent with some previous experimental and theoretical results, but differs from some others. We discuss possible origins of these incompatible results and what are the most realistic predictions of where third minima are observable

Merging the CEM2K and LAQGSM Codes with GEM2 to Describe Fission and Light-fragment Production

We present the current status of the improved Cascade-Exciton Model (CEM) code CEM2k and of the Los Alamos version of the Quark-Gluon String Model code LAQGSM. To describe fission and light-fragment (heavier than He4) production, both CEM2k and LAQGSM have been merged with the GEM2 code of Furihata. We present some results on proton- and deuteron-induced spallation, fission, and fragmentation reactions predicted by these extended versions of CEM2k and LAQGSM. We show that merging CEM2k and LAQGSM with GEM2 allows us to describe many fission and fragmentation reactions in addition to the spallation reactions which are already relatively well described. Nevertheless, the standard version of GEM2 does not provide a completely satisfactory description of complex particle spectra, heavy-fragment emission, and spallation yields, and is not yet a reliable tool for applications. We conclude that we may choose to use a model similar to the GEM2 approach in our codes, but it must be significantly extended and further improved. We observe that it is not sufficient to analyze only A and Z distributions of the product yields when evaluating this type of model, as is often done in the literature; instead it is important to study all the separate isotopic yields as well as the spectra of light particles and fragments.Comment: 33 pages, LaTeX, 16 figures, talk given at the SATIF-6 Meeting, SLAC, Menlo Park, CA, USA, April 10 - 12, 200

MCNP6 Fission Cross Section Calculations at Intermediate and High Energies

MCNP6 has been Validated and Verified (V&V) against intermediate- and high-energy fission cross-section experimental data. An error in the calculation of fission cross sections of 181Ta and a few nearby target nuclei by the CEM03.03 event generator in MCNP6 and a "bug: in the calculation of fission cross sections with the GENXS option of MCNP6 while using the LAQGSM03.03 event generator were detected during our V&V work. After fixing both problems, we find that MCNP6 using CEM03.03 and LAQGSM03.03 calculates fission cross sections in good agreement with available experimental data for reactions induced by nucleons, pions, and photons on both subactinide and actinide nuclei at incident energies from several tens of MeV to about 1 TeV.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures, Proc. 2013 International Conference on Nuclear Data for Science & Technology (ND2013), March 4-8, 2013, New York, USA, to be published in Nuclear Data Sheet

Hauser-Feshbach fission fragment de-excitation with calculated macroscopic-microscopic mass yields

The Hauser-Feshbach statistical model is applied to the de-excitation of primary fission fragments using input mass yields calculated with macroscopic-microscopic models of the potential energy surface. We test the sensitivity of the prompt fission observables to the input mass yields for two important reactions, $^{235}$U$(n_\mathrm{th},f)$ and $^{239}$Pu$(n_\mathrm{th},f)$, for which good experimental data exist. General traits of the mass yields, such as the location of the peaks and their widths, can impact both the prompt neutron and $\gamma$-ray multiplicities, as well as their spectra. Specifically, we use several mass yields to determine a linear correlation between the calculated prompt neutron multiplicity $\bar{\nu}$ and the average heavy-fragment mass $\langle A_h\rangle$ of the input mass yields $\partial\bar{\nu}/\partial\langle A_h\rangle = \pm 0.1\,n/f/\mathrm{u}$. The mass peak width influences the correlation between the total kinetic energy of the fission fragments and the total number of prompt neutrons emitted $\bar{\nu}_T(\mathrm{TKE})$. Typical biases on prompt particle observables from using calculated mass yields instead of experimental ones are: $\delta \bar{\nu} = 4\%$ for the average prompt neutron multiplicity, $\delta \bar{M}_\gamma = 1\%$ for the average prompt $\gamma$-ray multiplicity, $\delta \bar{\epsilon}_n^\mathrm{LAB} = 1\%$ for the average outgoing neutron energy, $\delta \bar{\epsilon}_\gamma = 1\%$ for the average $\gamma$-ray energy, and $\delta \langle\mathrm{TKE}\rangle = 0.4\%$ for the average total kinetic energy of the fission fragments.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, 2 table

Comparison of Expanded Preequilibrium CEM Model with CEM03.03 and Experimental Data, FY2013

Emission of light fragments (LF) from nuclear reactions is an open question. Different reaction mechanisms contribute to their production; the relative roles of each, and how they change with incident energy, mass number of the target, and the type and emission energy of the fragments is not completely understood. None of the available models are able to accurately predict emission of LF from arbitrary reactions. However, the ability to describe production of LF (especially at energies $\gtrsim 30$ MeV) from many reactions is important for different applications, such as cosmic-ray-induced Single Event Upsets (SEUs), radiation protection, and cancer therapy with proton and heavy-ion beams, to name just a few. The Cascade-Exciton Model (CEM) version 03.03 and the Los Alamos version of the Quark-Gluon String Model (LAQGSM) version 03.03 event generators in Monte Carlo N-Particle Transport Code version 6 (MCNP6) describe quite well the spectra of fragments with sizes up to $^{4}$He across a broad range of target masses and incident energies (up to $\sim 5$ GeV for CEM and up to $\sim 1$ TeV/A for LAQGSM). However, they do not predict the high-energy tails of LF spectra heavier than $^4$He well. Most LF with energies above several tens of MeV are emitted during the precompound stage of a reaction. The current versions of the CEM and LAQGSM event generators do not account for precompound emission of LF larger than $^{4}$He. The aim of our work is to extend the precompound model in them to include such processes, leading to an increase of predictive power of LF-production in MCNP6. Extending our models to include emission of fragments heavier than $^4$He at the precompound stage has already provided preliminary results that have much better agreement with experimental data

Preequilibrium Emission of Light Fragments in Spallation Reactions

The ability to describe production of light fragments (LF) is important for many applications, such as cosmic-ray-induced single event upsets (SEUs), radiation protection, and cancer therapy with proton and heavy-ion beams. The Cascade-Exciton Model (CEM) and the Los Alamos version of the Quark-Gluon String Model (LAQGSM) event generators in the LANL transport code MCNP6, describe quite well the spectra of fragments with sizes up to 4He across a broad range of target masses and incident energies (up to ~ 5 GeV for CEM and up to ~ 1 TeV/A for LAQGSM). However, they do not predict the high-energy tails of LF spectra heavier than 4He well. Most LF with energies above several tens of MeV are emitted during the precompound stage of a reaction. The current versions of our event generators do not account for precompound emission of LF larger than 4He. The aim of our work is to generalize the precompound model to include such processes, leading to increased predictive power of LF production. Extending the model in this way provides preliminary results that have much better agreement with experimental data.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures, Proc. 2013 International Conference on Nuclear Data for Science & Technology (ND2013), March 4-8, 2013, New York, USA, to be published in Nuclear Data Shee