Wednesday, 16th March
13:30, Seminar Room F
Nuclear-Structure Calculations for Basic Research and Society
Peter Möller
Abstract:
Modeling of nuclear properties such as low-lying energy levels, nuclear
masses, radioactive decay half-lives etc, is perhaps by many though of as
a purely "basic research" activity, that is theorists try to calculate and
model a few levels in some nucleus that is under study by an experimental
team. This is one aspect of nuclear model applications. But in society
there is a great need to model a vast number of nuclear processes: nuclear
reactor behavior under various operating conditions, radiation levels
under various operating conditions of a large accelerator under design, or
a nuclear rocket engine for a space probe! To model such scenarios
requires as one important part a knowledge of many different nuclear
properties for literally thousands of nuclei. Reactor modeling needs beta
decay rates for all the fission products that occur, the probability that
one of the fission products emits a beta-delayed neutron and the
probability of various outcomes if a neutron of a certain energy in the
reactor hits a 235U nucleus.
With what probability is it absorbed, or just
inelastically scattered, or with what probability does escape capture and
in addition knocks out another neutron so that we are left with two
neutrons and a 234U nucleus.
A model that has been very successful both for "basic research" and for
large-scale global nuclear-structure calculations of various properties for
thousands of nuclei is the macroscopic-microscopic method in a formulation that
has emerged over many years of collaboration between Los Alamos and other
groups, especially in Lund and Berkeley. I will explain the main features of
this approach and show some of its successful applications in basic research
areas and in providing nuclear-structure data for applications.