A Microscopic Theory of Fission Dynamics Based on the Generator Coordinate Method

This book introduces a quantum-mechanical description of the nuclear fission process from an initial compound state to scission. Issues like the relevant degrees of freedom throughout the process, the way of coupling collective and intrinsic degrees during the fission process, and how a nucleus divides into two separate daughters in a quantum-mechanical description where its wave function can be non-local, are currently being investigated through a variety of theoretical, computational, and experimental techniques.
The term “microscopic” in this context refers to an approach that starts from protons, neutrons, and an effective (i.e., in-medium) interaction between them. The form of this interaction is inspired by more fundamental theories of nuclear matter, but still contains parameters that have to be adjusted to data. Thus, this microscopic approach is far from complete, but sufficient progress has been made to warrant taking stock of what has been accomplished so far.
The aim is to provide, in a pedagogical and comprehensive manner, one specific approach to the fission problem, originally developed at the CEA Bruyères-le-Châtel Laboratory in France.
Intended as a reference for advanced graduate students and researchers in fission theory as well as for practitioners in the field, it includes illustrative examples throughout the text to make it easier for the reader to understand, implement, and verify the formalism presented.

Walid Younes received his Ph.D. in nuclear physics from Rutgers University in 1996, and is currently a member of the nuclear theory and modeling group at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. In 2006 he launched a program with Daniel Gogny to develop a microscopic theory of fission. Together, they developed a quantum-mechanical description of scission.

Daniel Marc Gogny, born June 20, 1938, passed away on May 25, 2015. In the 1970’s he developed a finite-range effective interaction that has since become a standard used throughout the field of nuclear physics. He worked for the Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) of France for 40 years. In 1998 he was appointed by the CEA to be scientific liaison to the French at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and moved to California. Gogny retired from the CEA in 2004 but continued to mentor doctoral students and work with his collaborators such as Walid Younes at LLNL for the next 11 years.

Jean-Francois Berger, now retired from the Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique, received his Docteur d’Etat in physical sciences from the Universite Paris Sud in 1985. He worked with D. Gogny at the Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) of France at Bruyeres le Chatel from 1973 to 1988, in particular on the topic of nuclear fission. In the early 1980’s Drs. Berger and Gogny produced some of the first fully microscopic time-dependent calculations of the fission process.