Towards microscopic studies of survival probabilities of compound superheavy nuclei

The microscopic approach of fission rates and neutron emission rates in compound nuclei have been applied to $^{258}$No and $^{286}$Cn. The microscopic framework is based on the finite-temperature Skyrme-Hartree-Fock+BCS calculations, in which the fission barriers and mass parameters are self-consistently temperature dependent. The fission rates from low to high temperatures can be obtained based on the imaginary free energy method. The neutron emission rates are obtained with neutron gases at surfaces. Finally the survival probabilities of superheavy nuclei can be calculated microscopically. The microscopic approach has been compared with the widely used statistical models. Generally, there are still large uncertainties in descriptions of fission rates.Comment: 9 pages,7 figures, accepted for Physica Scripta Special Issu

Microscopic description of neutron emission rates in compound nuclei

The neutron emission rates in thermal excited nuclei are conventionally described by statistical models with a phenomenological level density parameter that depends on excitation energies, deformations and mass regions. In the microscopic view of hot nuclei, the neutron emission rates can be determined by the external neutron gas densities without any free parameters. Therefore the microscopic description of thermal neutron emissions is desirable that can impact several understandings such as survival probabilities of superheavy compound nuclei and neutron emissivity in reactors. To describe the neutron emission rates microscopically, the external thermal neutron gases are self-consistently obtained based on the Finite-Temperature Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (FT-HFB) approach. The results are compared with the statistical model to explore the connections between the FT-HFB approach and the statistical model. The Skyrme FT-HFB equation is solved by HFB-AX in deformed coordinate spaces. Based on the FT-HFB approach, the thermal properties and external neutron gas are properly described with the self-consistent gas substraction procedure. Then neutron emission rates can be obtained based on the densities of external neutron gases. The thermal statistical properties of $^{238}$U and $^{258}$U are studied in detail in terms of excitation energies. The thermal neutron emission rates in $^{238, 258}$U and superheavy compound nuclei $_{112}^{278}$Cn and $_{114}^{292}$Fl are calculated, which agree well with the statistical model by adopting an excitation-energy-dependent level density parameter. The coordinate-space FT-HFB approach can provide reliable microscopic descriptions of neutron emission rates in hot nuclei, as well as microscopic constraints on the excitation energy dependence of level density parameters for statistical models.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, revised and accepted for PR

Extension and parameterization of high-order density dependence in Skyrme forces

The three-body force is indispensable in nuclear energy density functionals which leads to a density dependent two-body term in the Hartree-Fock approach. Usually a single factional power of density dependency has been adopted. We consider the possibility of an additional higher-order density dependence in extended Skyrme forces. As a result, new extended Skyrme parametertizations based on the SLy4 force are obtained and the improvements in descriptions of global nuclei have been demonstrated. The higher-order term can also substantially affect nuclear properties in the high density region in general ways.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Study of weakly-bound odd-A nuclei with quasiparticle blocking

The coordinate-space Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) approach with quasiparticle blocking has been applied to study the odd-A weakly bound nuclei $^{17,19}$B and $^{37}$Mg, in which halo structures have been reported in experiments. The Skyrme nuclear forces SLy4 and UNEDF1 have been adopted in our calculations. The results with and without blocking have been compared to demonstrate the emergence of deformed halo structures due to blocking effects. In our calculations, $^{19}$B and $^{37}$Mg have remarkable features of deformed halos.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl

Fission Dynamics of Compound Nuclei: Pairing versus Fluctuations

Energy dependence of fission observables is a key issue for wide nuclear applications. We studied real-time fission dynamics from low-energy to high excitations in the compound nucleus $^{240}$Pu with the time-dependent Hartree-Fock+BCS approach. It is shown that the evolution time of the later phase of fission towards scission is considerably lengthened at finite temperature. As the role of dynamical pairing is vanishing at high excitations, the random transition between single-particle levels around the Fermi surface to mimic thermal fluctuations is indispensable to drive fission. The obtained fission yields and total kinetic energies with fluctuations can be divided into two asymmetric scission channels, namely S1 and S2, which explain well experimental results, and give microscopic support to the Brosa model. With increasing fluctuations, S2 channel takes over S1 channel and the spreading fission observables are obtained.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Speed of Sound and Phase Transitions in Neutron Stars Indicated by the Thick Neutron Skin of 208^{208}Pb

The speed of sound is a novel probe of equation of state and phase transitions in dense cores of neutron stars. Recently nuclear experiments extracted a surprising thick neutron skin of $^{208}$Pb, causing tensions to reproduce the tidal deformability in gravitational-wave observations. This work finds that exotic structures in the speed of sound with a small softening slope followed by a steep-rising peak are required to reconcile the thick neutron skin of $^{208}$Pb with astronomical observations of neutron stars. Furthermore, the peak of speed of sound is narrowly constrained around two times the nuclear saturation density with the thick neutron skin. Consequently early and strong first-order phase transitions are comparatively more favorable.Comment: 5 pages 4 figures, submitte

Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov Theory of Polarized Fermi Systems

Condensed Fermi systems with an odd number of particles can be described by means of polarizing external fields having a time-odd character. We illustrate how this works for Fermi gases and atomic nuclei treated by density functional theory or Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) theory. We discuss the method based on introducing two chemical potentials for different superfluid components, whereby one may change the particle-number parity of the underlying quasiparticle vacuum. Formally, this method is a variant of non-collective cranking, and the procedure is equivalent to the so-called blocking. We present and exemplify relations between the two-chemical-potential method and the cranking approximation for Fermi gases and nuclei.Comment: 11 RevTeX pages, 4 figures, submitted to Physical Review A, extended versio

MADNESS: A Multiresolution, Adaptive Numerical Environment for Scientific Simulation

MADNESS (multiresolution adaptive numerical environment for scientific simulation) is a high-level software environment for solving integral and differential equations in many dimensions that uses adaptive and fast harmonic analysis methods with guaranteed precision based on multiresolution analysis and separated representations. Underpinning the numerical capabilities is a powerful petascale parallel programming environment that aims to increase both programmer productivity and code scalability. This paper describes the features and capabilities of MADNESS and briefly discusses some current applications in chemistry and several areas of physics