Related papers: Splitting the atom before the atom had been split
Atomic nuclei are quantum many-body systems of protons and neutrons held together by strong nuclear forces. Under the proper conditions, nuclei can break into two (sometimes three) fragments which will subsequently decay by emitting…
Nuclear fission energy is considered to be somewhere between the holy grail, required to solve all energy worries of the human industrialized civilization, and a fast path directly to hell. Discussions about future energy sources and the…
The fission process is a fascinating phenomenon in which the atomic nucleus, a compact self-bound mesoscopic system, undergoes a spontaneous or induced quantum transition into two or more fragments. A predictive, accurate and precise…
Just before a nucleus fissions a neck is formed between the emerging fission fragments. It is widely accepted that this neck undergoes a rather violent rupture, despite no direct experimental evidence, and only a few contentious theoretical…
Nuclear fission represents the ultimate test for microscopic theories of nuclear structure and reactions. Fission is a large-amplitude, time-dependent phenomenon taking place in a self-bound, strongly-interacting many-body system. It…
Two major recent developments in theory and computational resources created the favorable conditions for achieving a microscopic description of nuclear fission almost eighty years after its discovery in 1939 by Hahn and Strassmann (1930).…
This chapter is devoted to a discussion of applications of nuclear fission. It covers some aspects of the topics of nuclear reactors, nuclear safeguards and non-proliferation, reactor anti-neutrinos and nuclear medicine. It is, however,…
The article is an historical overview of some of the major contributions from different areas of Science with which, for centuries, it has been built up a scientific, sound and consistent vision of the atom. Some experiments that led us to…
The transformation of an atomic nucleus into two excited fission fragments is modeled as a strongly damped evolution of the nuclear shape, until scission occurs at a small critical neck radius, at which point the mass, charge, and shape of…
Fissioning nuclei and fission fragments, nuclear fragments emerging from energetic collisions, or nuclei probed with various external fields can emit one or more pre-equilibrium neutrons, protons, and potentially other heavier nuclear…
We examine nuclear scission within a fully quantum-mechanical microscopic framework, focusing on the non-local aspects of the theory. Using $^{240}\textrm{Pu}$ hot fission as an example, we discuss the identification of the fragments and…
This is an elementary review of the history and physics of neutrinos. The story of the discovery of neutrino mass through neutrino oscillations is described in some detail. Experiments on solar neutrinos and atmospheric neutrinos played an…
The early history of neutrino masses, mixing and oscillations is briefly reviewed.
Nuclear fission is still one of the most complex physical processes we can observe in nature due to the interplay of macroscopic and microscopic nuclear properties that decide the result. An example of this coupling is the presence of…
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…
Recent developments in theoretical modeling and in computational power have allowed us to make significant progress on a goal not achieved yet in nuclear theory: a fully microscopic theory of nuclear fission. The complete microscopic…
The mass distribution of fission fragments of actinide and superheavy nuclei can be explained if a new state of nuclear matter, a nucleon phase, is created in any fission event.
In this article, I trace the early historical developments that ultimately led to the creation of the atomic bomb. Even after the completion of weapons, many scientists continued to argue that nuclear armaments were indispensable for…
A century ago, nuclear physics entered astrophysics, giving birth to a new field of science referred to as "Nuclear Astrophysics". With time, it developed at an impressive pace into a vastly inter- and multidisciplinary discipline bringing…
The origin of the asymmetry in the fragment mass distribution of low-energy nuclear fission is considered from the semiclassical point of view. Using the semiclassical periodic-orbit theory, one can define and quantify the shell effect…