Deuteron Breakup Reaction Research Articles

New developments in the MCUNED-Plus code for radiation transport and coupled transport-activation computational simulations in accelerator-based facilities

The radiation hazard is one of the major aspects of concern in the design of a facility where it exists a risk of exposure to ionizing radiation. The nuclear analysis for radioprotection purposes requires an accurate description of the radiation fields. This is especially true in accelerator-based facilities where several types of particles are producing the radiation fields. Radiation fields exist during the accelerator operation, but delayed radiation may also be significant for a long time after operation ends. The radiation fields of concern present during the operation are due to the secondary neutrons and photons emitted by the interaction of accelerated particles with the accelerator components (beam leakage) or with the target. The radiation present after the operation is the residual photon field produced by activated materials, these materials being activated by both accelerated particles and secondary neutrons. This residual radiation field is relevant in high intensity accelerators like IFMIF-DONES.In order to address these complex radiation transport simulations, the D1SUNED code has been updated and the new code release renamed as MCUNED-Plus. The new developments include improvements in the light-ion transport like the implementation of a variance reduction for the production of secondary particles, and a new kinematics to reproduce the angular distribution of secondary particles emitted after deuteron breakup reaction. The calculation of the residual photon field in accelerator facility has also been improved by allowing to evaluate both light-ions and secondary neutrons induced shutdown dose rate in a single coupled simulation.

Інклюзивна реакція фрагментації дейтронів при зіткненні їх з дейтронами мішені

Within the framework of eikonal approximation and the double folding model, a formalism for calculating the inclusive spectra of particles emitted from the deuteron breakup reaction is proposed. The spectra of protons from the reaction 2H(d,p) at an incident particle energy of 59.9 MeV are described. The calculated values of cross-sections are in good agreement with the corresponding experimental data.

Bethe-Heitler lepton pair production in the deuteron breakup reaction* *Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (12075003, 12175117, 12335006)

We study the lepton pair production via the Bethe-Heitler mechanism in the deuteron breakup reaction. The complete seven-fold differential cross section is calculated with final state interactions taken into account. The deuteron bound state is described by a relativistic covariant deuteron-nucleon vertex. The numerical results indicate that the differential cross section is highly dependent on the lepton's azimuthal angle in regions of small polar angles and exhibits sharp peaks in the distribution over the invariant mass of the generated lepton pair or the two nucleons in the final state. We demonstrate that such a nearly singular feature originates from the collinearity between the produced lepton or antilepton and the incident photon, and it is physically regularized by the lepton mass in our calculation. The final state interaction between the knocked-out nucleon and recoil nucleon redistributes the differential cross section over the missing momentum, with a significant enhancement at a large missing momentum and a suppression in the intermediate region. With a further decomposition of the final state interaction contribution, It is found that the on-shell term dominates the near quasi-elastic region, while the off-shell term dominates the other end. Additionally, we examine the contribution from the interference between the proton amplitude and neutron amplitude, which, as expected, is found negligible even if the proton-neutron rescattering is included. The results of this study can serve as inputs for the analysis and background estimation of multiple exclusive measurements at Jefferson Lab and future electron-ion colliders.

Effects of deuteron breakup and nucleon-transfer reactions on d+^{11}B elastic scattering

A set of experimental data consisting of angular distributions of d+^{11}B elastic and inelastic scattering and (d,t) reaction obtained at deuteron energy of 14.5 MeV as well as data sets for (d,p) (E_d = 21.5 MeV), (d,n) (E_d = 15.4 MeV) and (d,^3He) (E_d = 11.8 MeV) nucleon transfer reactions were analysed using the continuum-discretized coupled-channel (CDCC) and coupled-reaction channel (CRC) methods. It was found that at forward scattering angles the elastic scattering data are well described by parameter-free CDCC calculations which include breakup of the deuteron, but at more backward angles virtual effects due to target excitation and neutron-transfer reactions play an important role. The strongest effects are due to the excitation of ^{11}B and the neutron pickup reaction, reflecting their large cross sections. The effects induced by proton-transfer reactions are found to be negligible.

The nucleon-induced deuteron breakup process as a laboratory for chiral dynamics

The nucleon-induced deuteron breakup reaction is studied within the Faddeev approach at incoming nucleon laboratory energies of 135 and 200 MeV. The chiral semilocal momentum-space (SMS) potential developed up to N4LO+, supplemented by the N2LO three-nucleon interaction, is used. Our investigation is focused on the determination of theoretical uncertainties in a predicted cross section related to its dependence on the value of the cutoff parameter of the regulator. We also compare predictions based on the complete N2LO potential with those based on the two-nucleon force upgraded to the N4LO+ order and augmented with the N2LO three-nucleon force. In addition, we study the three-nucleon force effects predicted by this model of interaction. Our systematic study covers the entire kinematically allowed phase space; however, our main results are obtained when additional restrictions on energies and cross section values are imposed. In such a case, we observe that the dependence of the differential cross sections on the regulator cutoff is moderate at 135 MeV and much stronger at 200 MeV. For the latter energy, it can amount to up to 45% in specific kinematic configurations. Taking into account terms beyond, N2LO in a two-body interaction changes the cross section up to 20% (27%) at E = 135(200) MeV. The inclusion of the three-nucleon force leads to effects of approximately 27% at both energies. We illustrate these dependencies with a few examples of the exclusive cross section as a function of the arc length of the S-curve.

Analyzing powers at low nucleon–nucleon relative energies in proton–deuteron breakup reaction

Vector analyzing powers for the d(vec {p},pp)n reaction have been measured at KVI for different kinematical configurations using a polarized proton beam with an energy of 190 MeV. We compared our data with different theoretical calculations at extremely low relative energies of the proton–proton and proton–neutron systems in the final state. For the proton–neutron case, we used the information of the two detected protons in the final state in which one of them scattered to an angle smaller than 40^{circ } and the other one to an angle larger than 100^{circ } in the laboratory frame. We extrapolated our measurements towards a kinematical configuration to a vanishing relative energy. Our results show that none of the theoretical models presented here is able to reproduce experimental data for the proton–proton case at very low relative energies. For the proton–neutron case, we were not able to provide a reliable extrapolation to small relative energies of less than 1 MeV. Present results are the basis for future investigations of spin-isospin dependencies in the nuclear many-body force.

Light nuclei with semilocal momentum-space regularized chiral interactions up to third order

We present a systematic investigation of few-nucleon systems and light nuclei using the current LENPIC interactions comprising semilocal momentum-space regularized two- and three-nucleon forces up to third chiral order (N$^2$LO). Following our earlier study utilizing the coordinate-space regularized interactions, the two low-energy constants entering the three-body force are determined from the triton binding energy and the differential cross section minimum in elastic nucleon-deuteron scattering. Predictions are made for selected observables in elastic nucleon-deuteron scattering and in the deuteron breakup reactions, for properties of the $A=3$ and $A=4$ nuclei, and for spectra of $p$-shell nuclei up to $A = 16$. A comprehensive error analysis is performed including an estimation of correlated truncation uncertainties for nuclear spectra. The obtained predictions are generally found to agree with experimental data within errors. Similar to the coordinate-space regularized chiral interactions at the same order, a systematic overbinding of heavier nuclei is observed, which sets in for $A \sim 10$ and increases with $A$.

Perturbative Treatment of Three-Nucleon Force Contact Terms in Three-Nucleon Faddeev Equations

We present a perturbative approach to solving the three-nucleon continuum Faddeev equation. This approach is particularly well suited to dealing with variable strengths of contact terms in a chiral three-nucleon force. We use examples of observables in the elastic nucleon-deuteron scattering as well as in the deuteron breakup reaction to demonstrate high precision of the proposed procedure and its capability to reproduce exact results. A significant reduction of computer time achieved by the perturbative approach in comparison to exact treatment makes this approach valuable for fine-tuning of the three-nucleon Hamiltonian parameters.

Application of a momentum-space semi-locally regularized chiral potential to selected disintegration processes

We apply the chiral potential with the momentum space semi-local regularization to the $^2$H and $^3$He photodisintegration processes and to the (anti)neutrino induced deuteron breakup reactions. Specifically, the differential cross section, the photon analyzing power and the final proton polarization have been calculated for the deuteron photodisintegration at the photon energies 30 MeV and 100 MeV. For the $^3$He photodisintegration predictions for the semi-inclusive and exclusive differential cross sections are presented for the photon energies up to 120 MeV. The total cross section is calculated for the (anti)neutrino disintegrations of the deuteron for the (anti)neutrino energies below 200 MeV. The predictions based on the Argonne V18 potential or on the older chiral force with regularization applied in coordinate space are used for comparison. Using the fifth order chiral nucleon-nucleon potential supplemented with dominant contributions from the sixth order allows us to obtain converged predictions for the regarded reactions and observables. Our results based on the newest semi-local chiral potentials show even smaller cutoff dependence for the considered electroweak observables than the previously reported ones with a coordinate-space regulator. However, some of the studied polarization observables in the deuteron photodisintegration process reveal more sensitivity to the regulator value than the unpolarized cross section. The chiral potential regularized semi-locally in momentum space yields also fast convergence of results with the chiral order. These features make the used potential a high quality tool to study electroweak processes.

Cross section of neutrons from the H2(n,2n) reaction at En=15 MeV

The double-differential cross section of the deuteron breakup reaction $^{2}\mathrm{H}(n,2n$) has been studied experimentally with a neutron beam energy of 15 MeV. Special attention has been devoted to estimation of background condition and multiple scattering effect in the scattering sample. Experimental data have been compared with models based on phase-space approximation used in the ENDF/B-VIII.0 data library and in the MCNP neutron transport code, as well as with rigorous model based on Faddeev equations used for cross section evaluations in JENDL data library. It was found that experimental data are better reproduced by Faddeev model, however, the model overestimates data in the low-energy region of the neutron spectrum ($<4$ MeV).

Uncertainty of three-nucleon continuum observables arising from uncertainties of two-nucleon potential parameters

We investigate the impact of statistical uncertainties in the two-nucleon potentials on the neutron–deuteron elastic scattering and the deuteron breakup reaction observables at incoming nucleon kinetic energy up to 200 MeV. To that end we use the semi-phenomenological one-pion-exchange- Gaussian two-nucleon potential developed by the Granada group and the recent semi-local momentum-space regularized chiral nucleon–nucleon interaction at various orders, neglecting the three-nucleon force present in the three-nucleon system. The magnitudes of statistical uncertainties for these two potentials are found to be rather similar. For the chiral potential, we also show truncation errors estimated, among others, using the Bayesian method and discuss the residual cutoff dependence. The statistical uncertainty is generally found to be smaller than the truncation errors except for certain observables calculated at high chiral orders at nucleon energies up to 65 MeV. In general, magnitudes of the theoretical uncertainties are small and amount up to 0.5%–4%, depending on the observable and energy.

Three-nucleon force effects in inclusive spectra of the neutron-deuteron breakup reaction

We investigate the sensitivity of the non-exclusive nucleon induced deuteron breakup reaction to the three-nucleon interaction and distributions of three-nucleon force effects in inclusive spectra. To this end we solve the three-nucleon Faddeev equation at a number of incoming nucleon laboratory energies using the CD Bonn nucleon-nucleon interaction alone or combined with the 2{\pi}-exchange Tucson-Melbourne three-nucleon force. Based on these solutions energy spectra of an outgoing nucleon, at a specified detection angle as well as spectra integrated over that angle, are calculated. By integrating the spectra at a given angle over the energy of the outgoing nucleon the angular distributions of three-nucleon force effects in the breakup process are additionally obtained. Contrary to elastic nucleon-deuteron scattering, where at higher energies significant three-nucleon force effects were encountered for scattering angles around the minimum of the cross section, for the breakup process only moderate effects are found and they are restricted to forward angles. Results of the present investigation show that the large three-nucleon force effects found for some specific complete breakup configurations are reduced substantially in the incomplete spectra when averaging over contributing complete geometries is performed.

Application of the JISP16 potential to the nucleon induced deuteron breakup process at E=13 MeV and E=65 MeV

The JISP16 nucleon-nucleon potential has been applied to investigations of the nucleon induced deuteron breakup reaction at the incoming nucleon laboratory energies E = 13 MeV and E = 65 MeV. We have found that for the studied process the JISP16 force gives a description of the exclusive cross section, which is generally similar to the ones obtained with the standard realistic nucleon-nucleon AV18 interaction. However, there are some regions of the phase space where the differential cross sections predicted by the JISP16 and AV18 models, differ by more than 100 %. These special kinematical configurations may possibly be useful to refit the JISP16 force parameters.

Determination of phase space region for cross-check validation of the neutron detection in the BINA experiments

Deuteron breakup reactions are basic laboratories for testing nuclear force models. Recent improvements in the data analysis allow for direct identification of neutrons in the BINA detection setup. This opens up the opportunity to study new aspects of few-nucleon system dynamics like charge dependence of nuclear force or Coulomb interaction. In this paper we determine regions along the kinematical curves where differential cross section of deuteron-proton breakup reactions can be measured by the proton-neutron and proton-proton coincidences simultaneously. %In this paper we determine regions along the kinematical curves where differential cross section of $^1$H$(d,pp)n$ and $^1$H$(d,pn)p$ breakup reactions overlap. This is particularly useful for validation of the neutron detection technique.

New probe to study the symmetry energy at low nuclear density with the deuteron breakup reaction

The reactions of nucleon and polarized deuteron scattered off a heavy target at large impact parameter with intermediate energies have been investigated by using the improved quantum molecular dynamics model. It is found that, due to the difference effect of isovector potential on proton and neutron, there is a significant difference between the angle distribution of elastic scattering protons and neutrons. To overcome the lack of monochromatic neutron beam, the reaction of polarized deuteron peripherally scattered off the heavy target is used to replace the reaction of individual proton and neutron scattered off heavy target to study the isospin effect. It is found that the distributions of elastic scattering angle of proton and neutron originating from the breakup of deuteron are very similar to the results of the individual proton- and neutron-induced reaction. A new probe more effective and more clean, namely the difference between elastic scattering angle of proton and neutron originating from the breakup of polarized deuteron, is promoted to constrain the symmetry energy at subsaturation density.

Application of Semilocal Coordinate-Space Regularized Chiral Forces to Elastic Nd Scattering and Breakup

We solve three-nucleon (3N) Faddeev equations with nucleon–nucleon (NN) and three-nucleon forces (3NF) derived consistently in the framework of chiral perturbation theory, taking the semilocal coordinate-space regularized chiral N^4LO NN potential supplemented by the chiral N^2LO 3NF regularized in the same way. Based on these solutions the nucleon–deuteron (Nd) elastic scattering and deuteron breakup reactions are studied. We checked that the elastic Nd scattering cross section can be used as an alternative observable to the doublet neutron–deuteron (nd) scattering length to fix, together with the ^3H binding energy, the strengths of the contact terms of the N^2LO 3NF. We investigated the predicted 3NF effects in 3N continuum reactions putting an emphasis on the A_y puzzle in low energy nd elastic scattering and on cross sections in the symmetrical-space-star and quasi-free-scattering breakup configurations. We found that the N^2LO 3NF provides effects comparable to those of standard, (semi-)phenomenological 2pi -exchange Tucson-Melbourne 3NF.

The JISP16 potential applied to the nucleon induced deuteron breakup process

The JISP16 nucleon-nucleon potential is applied to investigate the nucleon induced deuteron breakup reaction at energies E=13 and 65 MeV. Our study reveals that this force delivers, in general, a qualitatively similar description of the exclusive cross section for the studied reaction to the one based on the standard realistic nucleon-nucleon AV18 interaction. However, in some regions of the phase space the differential cross sections based on the JISP16 and on the AV18 forces differ by more than 100% and 50% at E=13 MeV and E=65 MeV, respectively. Such specific parts of the phase space can be used to fine-tune the JISP16 potential parameters.

Measurement of Differential Cross Section for Proton-induced Deuteron Breakup at 108 MeV

The experiment was performed at CCB IFJ PAN in Krakow with the use of the BINA detector. The experimental program and data analysis of proton-induced deuteron breakup reaction at 108 MeV are presented.

Three-dimensional modeling of the neutron spectrum to infer plasma conditions in cryogenic inertial confinement fusion implosions

Neutron-based diagnostics are typically used to infer compressed core conditions such as areal density and ion temperature in deuterium–tritium (D–T) inertial confinement fusion (ICF) implosions. Asymmetries in the observed neutron-related quantities are important to understanding failure modes in these implosions. Neutrons from fusion reactions and their subsequent interactions including elastic scattering and neutron-induced deuteron breakup reactions are tracked to create spectra. It is shown that background subtraction is important for inferring areal density from backscattered neutrons and is less important for the forward-scattered neutrons. A three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulation of a cryogenic implosion on the OMEGA Laser System [Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)] using the hydrodynamic code HYDRA [Marinak et al., Phys. Plasmas 8, 2275 (2001)] is post-processed using the tracking code IRIS3D. It is shown that different parts of the neutron spectrum from the view can be mapped into different regions of the implosion, enabling an inference of an areal-density map. It is also shown that the average areal-density and an areal-density map of the compressed target can be reconstructed with a finite number of detectors placed around the target chamber. Ion temperatures are inferred from the width of the D–D and D–T fusion neutron spectra. Backgrounds can significantly alter the inferred ion temperatures from the D–D reaction, whereas they insignificantly influence the inferred D–T ion temperatures for the areal densities typical of OMEGA implosions. Asymmetries resulting in fluid flow in the core are shown to influence the absolute inferred ion temperatures from both reactions, although relative inferred values continue to reflect the underlying asymmetry pattern. The work presented here is part of the wide range of the first set of studies performed with IRIS3D. This code will continue to be used for post-processing detailed hydrodynamic simulations and interpreting observed neutron spectra in ICF implosions.

The Role of the Isospin 3/2 Component in Elastic Neutron-Deuteron Scattering and in the Deuteron Breakup Reaction

We discuss the importance of the three-nucleon isospin [Formula: see text] component in elastic neutron-deuteron scattering and in the deuteron breakup reaction. The contribution of this amplitude originates from charge-independence breaking of the nucleon-nucleon potential. We study the magnitude of that contribution to the elastic scattering and breakup observables, taking the Av18 nucleon-nucleon potential alone or combined with the Urbana IX three-nucleon force as well as the locally regularized chiral N4LO nucleon-nucleon potential alone or supplemented by the chiral N2LO three-nucleon force. We find that the isospin [Formula: see text] component is important for the breakup reaction and the proper treatment of charge-independence breaking in this case requires the inclusion of the [Formula: see text] state with isospin [Formula: see text]. For neutron-deuteron elastic scattering the [Formula: see text] contributions are insignificant and charge-independence breaking can be accounted for by neglecting [Formula: see text] component and using the effective t-matrix generated with the so-called [Formula: see text] rule.