Nuclear Reactions: A Challenge for Few- and Many-Body Theory

TL;DR

This paper explores the feasibility of representing nucleon-nucleus optical potentials in momentum space as separable forms to improve the theoretical modeling of (d,p) nuclear reactions involving rare isotopes.

Contribution

It introduces a method to describe phenomenological optical potentials in a separable momentum space form for use in Faddeev calculations of (d,p) reactions.

Findings

Feasibility of separable momentum space optical potentials demonstrated

Potential for improved three-body reaction modeling in nuclear physics

Application to neutron capture processes in rare isotopes

Abstract

A current interest in nuclear reactions, specifically with rare isotopes concentrates on their reaction with neutrons, in particular neutron capture. In order to facilitate reactions with neutrons one must use indirect methods using deuterons as beam or target of choice. For adding neutrons, the most common reaction is the (d,p) reaction, in which the deuteron breaks up and the neutron is captured by the nucleus. Those (d,p) reactions may be viewed as a three-body problem in a many-body context. This contribution reports on a feasibility study for describing phenomenological nucleon-nucleus optical potentials in momentum space in a separable form, so that they may be used for Faddeev calculations of (d,p) reactions.