Contatto di riferimento: Barbara Simoni
Partecipanti: Prof. Brett Carlson: Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica São José dos Campos SP Brazil
Abstract: Niels Bohr introduced the concept of the compound nucleus in order to explain reactions in which an outgoing particle had lost all information of the incoming state (excepting conserved quantities). This can be understood as a process in which the incoming particle is absorbed by the target nucleus to eventually form a long-lived equilibrated system in which all nucleons are bound. The compound nucleus has been found to play an important role in nuclear reactions over a large range of projectile-target combinations and energies.
A compound system decays when, through the mutual interaction of its nucleons, sufficient energy is given to a cluster of nucleons for it to escape. The limits that angular momentum places on the formation and existence of the compound nucleus are, for the most part, well understood. The limits on its excitation energy are not as clear. Here we analyze general geometrical and thermodynamic features of a hot compound nucleus. We then discuss the manners by which it can decay and close by analyzing the high-energy limit to its formation and decay.