Unified description of the coupled-channels and statistical Hauser-Feshbach nuclear reaction theories for low energy neutron incident reactions

TL;DR

This paper integrates the coupled-channels optical model with the Hauser-Feshbach statistical theory to enable consistent calculations of all open channels in low energy neutron reactions on deformed nuclei.

Contribution

It extends the coupled-channels optical model implementation to include all open channels in nucleon-induced reactions, improving the theoretical framework.

Findings

Unified description of reaction mechanisms achieved

Consistent calculation of open channels demonstrated

Enhanced modeling of low energy neutron reactions

Abstract

We incorporate the coupled-channels optical model into the statistical Hauser-Feshbach nuclear reaction theory, where the scattering matrix is diagonalized by performing the Engelbrecht-Weidenm\"{u}ller transformation. This technique has been implemented in the coupled-channels optical model code ECIS by J. Raynal, and we extend this method so that all the open channels in a nucleon-induced reaction on a deformed nucleus can be calculated consistently.