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Within the Langevin framework, we investigate the dynamics of the fusion process for production of transfermium elements in reactions of $^{48}$Ca, $^{50}$Ti, $^{54}$Cr, and $^{58}$Fe with $^{208}$Pb. After the reacting nuclei have made contact, the early dynamical stage is dominated by the dissipation of the initial radial kinetic energy, while the subsequent shape evolution is diffusive. The probability for surmounting the inner barrier and forming a compound system is obtained by simulating the evolution as a Metropolis random walk in a five-dimensional potential-energy landscape. Good agreement with the available data is obtained, especially for the maximal formation probability., Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures

A recent analysis of experimental data [J. Wilson $et. al$, Nature $\mathbf 590$, 566 (2021)] found that the angular momenta of nuclear fission fragments are uncorrelated. Based on this finding, the authors concluded that the spins are therefore determined only $after$ scission has occurred. We show here that the nucleon-exchange mechanism, as implemented in the well-established event-by-event fission model $\mathtt{FREYA}$, while agitating collective rotational modes in which the two spins are highly correlated, nevertheless leads to fragment spins that are largely uncorrelated. This fact invalidates the reasoning of those authors. Furthermore, it was reported [J. Wilson $et. al$, Nature $\mathbf 590$, 566 (2021)] that the mass dependence of the average fragment spin has a sawtooth structure. We demonstrate that such a behavior naturally emerges when shell and deformation effects are included in the moments of inertia of the fragments at scission., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures

Background: The role of angular momentum in fission has long been discussed but the observable effects are difficult to quantify. Purpose: We discuss a variety of effects associated with angular momentum in fission and present quantitative illustrations. Methods: We employ the fission simulation model $\mathtt{FREYA}$ which is well suited for this purpose because it obeys all conservation laws, including linear and angular momentum conservation at each step of the process. We first discuss the implementation of angular momentum in $\mathtt{FREYA}$ and then assess particular observables, including various correlated observables. We also study potential effects of neutron-induced fission of the low-lying isomeric state of $^{235}$U relative to the ground state. Results: The fluctuations inherent in the fission process ensure that the spin of the initial compound nucleus has only a small influence on the fragment spins which are therefore nearly uncorrelated. There is a marked correlation between the spin magnitude of the fission fragments and the photon multiplicity. We also consider the dynamical anisotropy caused by the rotation of an evaporating fragment and study especially the distribution of the projected neutron-neutron opening angles, showing that while it is dominated by the effect of the evaporation recoils, it is possible to extract the signal of the dynamical anisotropy by means of a Fourier decomposition. Finally, we note that the use of an isomeric target, $^{235 {\rm m}}$U($n_{\rm th}$,f), may enhance the symmetric yields and can thus result in higher neutron multiplicities for low total fragment kinetic energy., Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures

We calculate neutron multiplicities from fission fragments with specified mass numbers for events having a specified total fragment kinetic energy. The shape evolution from the initial compound nucleus to the scission configurations is obtained with the Metropolis walk method on the five-dimensional potential-energy landscape, calculated with the macroscopic-microscopic method for the three-quadratic-surface shape family. Shape-dependent microscopic level densities are used to guide the random walk, to partition the intrinsic excitation energy between the two proto-fragments at scission, and to determine the spectrum of the neutrons evaporated from the fragments. The contributions to the total excitation energy of the resulting fragments from statistical excitation and shape distortion at scission is studied. Good agreement is obtained with available experimental data on neutron multiplicities in correlation with fission fragments from $^{235}$U(n$_{\rm th}$,f). At higher neutron energies a superlong fission mode appears which affects the dependence of the observables on the total fragment kinetic energy., Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures

We have calculated a complete set of primary fission fragment mass yields, $Y(A)$, for heavy nuclei across the chart of nuclides, including those of particular relevance to the rapid neutron capture process ($r$ process) of nucleosynthesis. We assume that the nuclear shape dynamics are strongly damped which allows for a description of the fission process via Brownian shape motion across nuclear potential-energy surfaces. The macroscopic energy of the potential was obtained with the Finite-Range Liquid-Drop Model (FRLDM), while the microscopic terms were extracted from the single-particle level spectra in the fissioning system by the Strutinsky procedure for the shell energies and the BCS treatment for the pairing energies. For each nucleus considered, the fission fragment mass yield, $Y(A)$, is obtained from 50,000 -- 500,000 random walks on the appropriate potential-energy surface. The full mass and charge yield, $Y(Z,A)$, is then calculated by invoking the Wahl systematics. With this method, we have calculated a comprehensive set of fission-fragment yields from over 3,800 nuclides bounded by $80\leq Z \leq 130$ and $A\leq330$; these yields are provided as an ASCII formatted database in the supplemental material. We compare our yields to known data and discuss general trends that emerge in low-energy fission yields across the chart of nuclides., Comment: 22 pages, 15 figures

Fission-fragment mass and total-kinetic-energy (TKE) distributions following fission of even-even nuclides in the region $74 \leq Z \leq 126$ and $92 \leq N \leq 230$, comprising 896 nuclides have been calculated using the Brownian shape-motion method. The emphasis is the region of superheavy nuclei. To show compatibility with earlier results the calculations are extended to include earlier studied regions. An island of asymmetric fission is obtained in the superheavy region, $106\leq Z\leq114$ and $162\leq N\leq 176$, where the heavy fragment is found to be close to $^{208}$Pb and the light fragment adjusts accordingly. Most experimentally observed $\alpha$-decay chains of superheavy nuclei with $Z > 113 $ terminate by spontaneous fission in our predicted region of asymmetric fission. In these cases, the pronounced large asymmetry is accompanied by a low TKE value compatible with measurements., Comment: 6 pages, 10 figures, published version in EPJA

Fission-fragment mass and total-kinetic-energy distributions following fission of the fermium isotopes $^{256,258,260}\text{Fm}$ at low excitation energy have been calculated using the Brownian shape-motion model. A transition from asymmetric fission in $^{256}\text{Fm}$ to symmetric fission in $^{258}\text{Fm}$ is obtained. The total-kinetic-energy distributions for the three isotopes show radically different behaviour due to varying contributions from different fission modes, with a double-humped distribution for $^{258}\text{Fm}$., Comment: 2 pages, 3 figures, Contribution to the Proceedings of the IV International Conference on Nuclear Structure and Dynamics (NSD2019), Venice, Italy, 2019

Background: Spontaneous fission events emit prompt neutrons correlated with one another in emission angle and energy. Purpose: We explore the relationship in energy and angle between correlated prompt neutrons emitted from 252Cf spontaneous fission. Methods: Measurements with the Chi-Nu array provide experimental data for coincident neutrons tagged with a fission chamber signal with 10 degree angular resolution and 1 ns timing resolution for time-of-flight energy calculations. The experimental results are compared to simulations produced by the fission event generators CGMF, FREYA, and MCNPX-POLIMI IPOL(1)=1. Results: We find that the measurements and the simulations all exhibit anisotropic neutron emission, though differences exist between fission event generators. Conclusions: This work shows that the dependence of detected neutron energy on the energy of a neutron detected in coincidence, although weak, is non-negligible, indicating that there may be correlations in energy between two neutrons emitted in the same fission event.

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 each fragment are extracted. The available excitation energy then is divided statistically on the basis of the microscopic level densities. This approach takes account of the important (and energy-dependent) finite-size effects. After the fragments have been fully accelerated and their shapes have relaxed to their equilibrium form, they undergo sequential neutron evaporation. The dependence of the resulting mean neutron multiplicity on the fragment mass, $\bar{\nu}$(A), including the dependence on the initial excitation energy of the fissioning compound nucleus, is in good agreement with the observed behavior, as demonstrated here for $^{235}$U(n,f).

Detailed information on the fission process can be inferred from the observation, modeling and theoretical understanding of prompt fission neutron and $\gamma$-ray~observables. Beyond simple average quantities, the study of distributions and correlations in prompt data, e.g., multiplicity-dependent neutron and \gray~spectra, angular distributions of the emitted particles, $n$-$n$, $n$-$\gamma$, and $\gamma$-$\gamma$~correlations, can place stringent constraints on fission models and parameters that would otherwise be free to be tuned separately to represent individual fission observables. The FREYA~and CGMF~codes have been developed to follow the sequential emissions of prompt neutrons and $\gamma$-rays~from the initial excited fission fragments produced right after scission. Both codes implement Monte Carlo techniques to sample initial fission fragment configurations in mass, charge and kinetic energy and sample probabilities of neutron and $\gamma$~emission at each stage of the decay. This approach naturally leads to using simple but powerful statistical techniques to infer distributions and correlations among many observables and model parameters. The comparison of model calculations with experimental data provides a rich arena for testing various nuclear physics models such as those related to the nuclear structure and level densities of neutron-rich nuclei, the $\gamma$-ray~strength functions of dipole and quadrupole transitions, the mechanism for dividing the excitation energy between the two nascent fragments near scission, and the mechanisms behind the production of angular momentum in the fragments, etc. Beyond the obvious interest from a fundamental physics point of view, such studies are also important for addressing data needs in various nuclear applications. (See text for full abstract.), Comment: 39 pages, 57 figure files, published in Eur. Phys. J. A, reference added this version

The event-by-event fission model FREYA has been improved, in particular to address deficiencies in the calculation of photon observables. We discuss the improvements that have been made and introduce several new variables, some detector dependent, that affect the photon observables. We show the sensitivity of FREYA to these variables. We then compare the results to the available photon data from spontaneous and thermal neutron-induced fission., Comment: 25 pages, 31 figures, version as accepted in Phys. Rev. C

The event-by-event fission model FREYA is extended to spontaneous fission of actinides and a variety of neutron observables are studied for spontaneous fission and fission induced by thermal neutrons with a view towards possible applications for detection of special nuclear materials., Comment: 16 pages, 24 figures

Random walks on five-dimensional potential-energy surfaces were recently found to yield fission-fragment mass distributions that are in remarkable agreement with experimental data. Within the framework of the Smoluchowski equation of motion, which is appropriate for highly dissipative evolutions, we discuss the physical justification for that treatment and investigate the sensitivity of the resulting mass yields to a variety of model ingredients, including in particular the dimensionality and discretization of the shape space and the structure of the dissipation tensor. The mass yields are found to be relatively robust, suggesting that the simple random walk presents a useful calculational tool. Quantitatively refined results can be obtained by including physically plausible forms of the dissipation, which amounts to simulating the Brownian shape motion in an anisotropic medium., Comment: 14 pages, 11 ps figures

Earlier studies of 239Pu(n, f) have been extended to incident neutron energies up to 20 MeV within the framework of the event-by-event fission model FREYA, into which we have incorporated multichance fission and pre-equilibrium neutron emission. The main parameters controlling prompt fission neutron evaporation have been identified and the prompt fission neutron spectrum has been analyzed by fitting those parameters to the average neutron multiplicity nubar from ENDF-B/VII.0, including the energy-energy correlations in nubar(E) obtained by fitting to the experimental nubar data used in the ENDF-B/VII.0 evaluation. We present our results, discuss relevant tests of this new evaluation, and describe possible further improvements., Comment: 20 pages, 26 figures

Employing a recently developed Monte Carlo model, we study the fission of 240Pu induced by neutrons with energies from thermal to just below the threshold for second chance fission. Current measurements of the mean number of prompt neutrons emitted in fission, together with less accurate measurements of the neutron energy spectra, place remarkably fine constraints on predictions of microscopic calculations. In particular, the total excitation energy of the nascent fragments must be specified to within 1 MeV to avoid disagreement with measurements of the mean neutron multiplicity. The combination of the Monte Carlo fission model with a statistical likelihood analysis also presents a powerful tool for the evaluation of fission neutron data. Of particular importance is the fission spectrum, which plays a key role in determining reactor criticality. We show that our approach can be used to develop an estimate of the fission spectrum with uncertainties several times smaller than current experimental uncertainties for outgoing neutron energies up to 2 MeV., Comment: 17 pages, 20 figures

The increased interest in more exclusive fission observables has demanded more detailed models. We present here a new computational model, FREYA, that aims to meet this need by producing large samples of complete fission events from which any observable of interest can then be extracted consistently, including arbitrary correlations. The various model assumptions are described and the potential utility of the model is illustrated by means of several novel correlation observables., Comment: 11 pages, 12 eps figures

The hadronic freeze-out line is calculated in terms of the net baryon density and the energy density instead of the usual T and mu_B. This analysis makes it apparent that the freeze-out density exhibits a maximum as the collision energy is decreased. This maximum freeze-out density is well within the parameters of the proposed NICA accelerator., Comment: 2 pages, 2 figures

Central collisions of gold nuclei are simulated by several existing models and the central net baryon density rho and the energy density eps are extracted at successive times, for beam kinetic energies of 5-40 GeV per nucleon. The resulting trajectories in the (rho,eps) phase plane are discussed from the perspective of experimentally exploring the expected first-order hadronization phase transition with the planned FAIR at GSI or in a low-energy campaign at RHIC., Comment: 11 pages formatted, 17 eps files for 9 figures

The correlation between baryon number and strangeness is used to discern the nature of the deconfined matter produced at vanishing chemical potential in high-energy nuclear collisions at the BNL RHIC. Comparisons of results of various phenomenological models with correlations extracted from lattice QCD calculations suggest that a quasi-particle picture applies. At finite baryon densities, such as those encountered at the CERN SPS, it is demonstrated that the presence of a first-order phase transition and the accompanying development of spinodal decomposition would significantly enhance the number of strangeness carriers and the associated fluctuations., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, latex, to appear in the proceedings of the Workshop on Correlations and Fluctuations in Relativistic Nuclear collisions, (MIT, April 21-23,2005)

The correlation between baryon number and strangeness elucidates the nature of strongly interacting matter, such as that formed transiently in high-energy nuclear collisions. This diagnostic can be extracted theoretically from lattice QCD calculations and experimentally from event-by-event fluctuations. The analysis of present lattice results above the critical temperature severely limits the presence of q-qbar bound states, thus supporting a picture of independent (quasi)quarks., Comment: 4 pages, 2 eps figures, Revised: several sign typos have been fixed (the PRL version is correct)

The factorial moments of the pion multiplicity distributions are calculated with HIJING and UrQMD and found to be independent of the pT range included, in contrast to recent simulations with the linear sigma model which leads to large enhancements for pions with transverse kinetic energies below 200 MeV. This supports the use of the ratio of the factorial moments of low and high pT pions as a signal of ``new'' physics at low momentum scales, such as the formation of disoriented chiral condensates., Comment: 4 pages total, incl 4 eps figures (Randrup@LBL.gov)

The SU(3) extension of the linear sigma model is employed to elucidate the effect of including strangeness on the formation of disoriented chiral condensates. By means of a Hartree factorization, approximate dispersion relations for the 18 scalar and pseudoscalar meson species are derived and their self-consistent solution makes it possible to trace out the thermal path of the two order parameters as well as delineate the region of instability within which spontaneous pair creation becomes possible. The results depend significantly on the employed sigma mass, with the highest values yielding the largest regions of instability. An approximate solution of the equations of motion for the order parameter in scenarios emulating uniform scaling expansions show that even with a rapid quench only the pionic modes grow unstable. Nevertheless, the rapid and oscillatory relaxation of the order parameters leads to enhanced production of both pions and (to a lesser degree) kaons., Comment: 29 pages, RevTeX, 11 postscript figures, discussion about anomaly term added

Transport simulations including in-medium properties derived in a microscopic pi + nucleon-hole + delta-hole model in infinite nuclear matter are presented. In-medium pion dispersion relations, partial delta decay widths, pion absorption cross sections and delta cross sections are incorporated into the transport description by means of a local-density approximation. Strong modifications of pi and delta production and absorption rates are found, but only small effects on pion observables., Comment: 11 pages, Latex with psfig and 4 figures included as .eps files

Disoriented chiral condensates are manifested as long wavelength pionic oscillations and their interaction with the thermal environment can be a significant source of dileptons. We calculate the yield of such dilepton production within the linear sigma model and illustrate the basic features of the dilepton spectrum in a schematic model. We find that the dilepton yield with invariant mass near and below $2m_{\pi}$ due to the soft pion modes can be up to two orders of magnitude larger than the corresponding equilibrium yield. We conclude with a discussion on how this enhancement can be detected by present dilepton experiments., Comment: 15 pages, 9 figs, uses epsf and sprocl style files Contribution to Proceedings, International Workshop on Astro Hadron Physics `Hadrons in Dense Matter', APCTP, Seoul, Korea, October 1997

Formation mechanisms of single, twin, and double hypernuclei from Xi^- absorption at rest on 12C are investigated with an refined microscopic transport model, that incorporates the recently developed Quantal Langevin treatment into Antisymmetrized Molecular Dynamics. The quantum fluctuations suppress the formation probability of double hyperfragments to around 10%, which is comparable to the experimental data, and the dynamical formation of twin hyperfragment can be described qualitatively., Comment: 30 pages, PTP-TeX with epsf, and embedded 8 PS figures, Largely revised

In-medium properties derived for nuclear matter in a microscopic pi + nucleon-hole + delta-hole model are incorporated into transport simulations of nuclear collisions by means of a local-density approximation and by utilizing a local medium frame. Certain features of the transport results differ from those based on the corresponding vacuum properties. Comparisons of the pi and delta production rates, as well as pion energy spectra, are discussed in particular., Comment: 11 pages total, Latex with psfig, and embedded 4 eps figures

Disoriented chiral condensates or long wavelength pionic oscillations and their interaction with the thermal environment can be a significant source of dileptons. We calculate the yield of such dilepton production within the linear sigma model, both in a quantal mean-field treatment and in a semi-classical approximation. We then illustrate the basic features of the dilepton spectrum in a schematic model. We find that dilepton yield with invariant mass near and below $2m_{\pi}$ due to the soft pion modes can be up to two orders of magnitude larger than the corresponding equilibrium yield., Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures, uses epsf-style

Interacting argon atoms are simulated with a recently developed quantum Langevin transport treatment that takes approximate account of the quantum fluctuations inherent in microscopic many-body descriptions based on wave packets. The mass distribution of the atomic clusters is affected significantly near the critical temperature and thus it may be important to take account of quantum fluctuations in molecular-dynamics simulations of cluster formation processes., Comment: revtex body and 2 ps figures