arXiv subjects

Junchen Pei

Publications and source records attributed to Junchen Pei.

32 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

Energy and pairing dependence of dissipation in real-time fission dynamics

This work presents a microscopic study of dissipation in fission dynamical evolutions with the time-dependent Hartree-Fock+BCS method in terms of energy dependence and pairing dependence. The friction coefficients and dissipation energies are extracted by mapping the symmetric fission process of $^{258}$Fm into a classical equation of motion. Density-constrained calculations are used to obtain the dynamical potential. The obtained friction coefficients have a strong dependence of deformations, and averagely match the coefficients adopted in statistical models. The dissipation indeed increase with increasing initial excitation energies or with decreasing pairings. It is also shown that post-scission dissipations play a significant role. The demonstrated characteristics of dissipations will be valuable for calibrations of various fission models.

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arXiv2021

Optimizing multilayer Bayesian neural networks for evaluation of fission yields

The Bayesian machine learning is a promising tool for the evaluation of nuclear fission data but its potential capability has not been fully realized. We attempt to optimize the performances of the multilayer Bayesian neural networks for evaluations of fission yields. The influences of adjustments of learning data, activation functions, network structures have been studied. In particular, negative values of net functions have been penalized to avoid non-physical inferences of fission yields. Presently the network with double hidden layers has optimal performances compared to the single-layer or deeper networks. These studies are essential for further developments of precise evaluation methods.

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arXiv2021

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.

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arXiv2020

Future of Nuclear Fission Theory

There has been much recent interest in nuclear fission, due in part to a new appreciation of its relevance to astrophysics, stability of superheavy elements, and fundamental theory of neutrino interactions. At the same time, there have been important developments on a conceptual and computational level for the theory. The promising new theoretical avenues were the subject of a workshop held at the University of York in October 2019; this report summarises its findings and recommendations.

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arXiv2019

Small amplitude collective modes of a finite-size unitary Fermi gas in deformed traps

We have investigated collective breathing modes of a unitary Fermi gas in deformed harmonic traps. The ground state is studied by the Superfluid Local Density Approximation (SLDA) and small-amplitude collective modes are studied by the iterative Quasiparticle Random Phase Approximation (QRPA). The results illustrate the evolutions of collective modes of a small system in traps from spherical to elongated or pancake deformations. For small spherical systems, the influences of different SLDA parameters are significant, and, in particular, a large pairing strength can shift up the oscillation frequency of collective mode. The transition currents from QRPA show that the compressional flow patterns are nontrivial and dependent on the deformation. Finally, the finite size effects are demonstrated to be reasonable when progressing towards larger systems. Our studies indicate that experiments on small and medium systems are valuable for understanding effective interactions in systems with varying sizes and trap deformations.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2019

Bayesian Evaluation of Incomplete Fission Yields

Fission product yields are key infrastructure data for nuclear applications in many aspects. It is a challenge both experimentally and theoretically to obtain accurate and complete energy-dependent fission yields. We apply the Bayesian neural network (BNN) approach to learn existed fission yields and predict unknowns with uncertainty quantification. We demonstrated that BNN is particularly useful for evaluations of fission yields when incomplete experimental data are available. The BNN results are quite satisfactory on distribution positions and energy dependencies of fission yields.

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arXiv2017

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.

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arXiv2016

Thermal fission rates with temperature dependent fission barriers

The fission processes of thermal excited nuclei are conventionally studied by statistical models which rely on inputs of phenomenological level densities and potential barriers. Therefore the microscopic descriptions of spontaneous fission and induced fission are very desirable for a unified understanding of various fission processes. We propose to study the fission rates, at both low and high temperatures, with microscopically calculated temperature-dependent fission barriers and collective mass parameters. The fission barriers are calculated by the finite-temperature Skyrme-Hartree-Fock+BCS method. The mass parameters are calculated by the temperature-dependent cranking approximation. The thermal fission rates can be obtained by the imaginary free energy approach at all temperatures, in which fission barriers are naturally temperature dependent. The fission at low temperatures can be described mainly as a barrier-tunneling process. While the fission at high temperatures has to incorporate the reflection above barriers. Our results of spontaneous fission rates reasonably agree with other studies and experiments. The temperature dependencies of fission barrier heights and curvatures have been discussed. The temperature dependent behaviors of mass parameters have also been discussed. The thermal fission rates from low to high temperatures with a smooth connection have been given by different approaches. \item[Conclusions] Since the temperature dependencies of fission barrier heights and curvatures, and the mass parameters can vary rapidly for different nuclei, the microscopic descriptions of thermal fission rates are very valuable. Our studies without free parameters provide a consistent picture to study various fissions such as that in fast-neutron reactors, astrophysical environments and fusion reactions for superheavy nuclei.

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arXiv2016

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.

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arXiv2015

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.

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arXiv2014

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.

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arXiv2014

Adaptive Multi-resolution 3D Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov Solver for Nuclear Structure

Complex many-body systems, such as triaxial and reflection-asymmetric nuclei, weakly-bound halo states, cluster configurations, nuclear fragments produced in heavy-ion fusion reactions, cold Fermi gases, and pasta phases in neutron star crust, they are all characterized by large sizes and complex topologies, in which many geometrical symmetries characteristic of ground-state configurations are broken. A tool of choice to study such complex forms of matter is an adaptive multi-resolution wavelet analysis. This method has generated much excitement since it provides a common framework linking many diversified methodologies across different fields, including signal processing, data compression, harmonic analysis and operator theory, fractals, and quantum field theory. To describe complex superfluid many-fermion systems, we introduce an adaptive pseudo-spectral method for solving self-consistent equations of nuclear density functional theory in three dimensions, without symmetry restrictions. The new adaptive multi-resolution Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) solver {\madnesshfb} is benchmarked against a two-dimensional coordinate-space solver {\hfbax} based on B-spline technique and three-dimensional solver {\hfodd} based on the harmonic oscillator basis expansion. Several examples are considered, including self-consistent HFB problem for spin-polarized trapped cold fermions and Skyrme-Hartree-Fock (+BCS) problem for triaxial deformed nuclei. The new {\madnesshfb} framework has many attractive features when applied to nuclear and atomic problems involving many-particle superfluid systems. Of particular interest are weakly-bound nuclear configurations close to particle drip lines, strongly elongated and dinuclear configurations such as those present in fission and heavy ion fusion, and exotic pasta phases that appear in the neutron star crust.

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arXiv2013

Computational Nuclear Quantum Many-Body Problem: The UNEDF Project

The UNEDF project was a large-scale collaborative effort that applied high-performance computing to the nuclear quantum many-body problem. UNEDF demonstrated that close associations among nuclear physicists, mathematicians, and computer scientists can lead to novel physics outcomes built on algorithmic innovations and computational developments. This review showcases a wide range of UNEDF science results to illustrate this interplay.

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arXiv2009

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.

cond-mat.supr-con↗