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Results for “neutron-matter interaction”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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11 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2014

Applications of compact accelerator-driven neutron sources: An updated assessment from the perspective of materials research in Italy

In 2005 the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna published a report [1] on ‘Development Opportunities of Small and Medium Scale Accelerator Driven Neutron Sources’ which summarized the prospect of smaller sources in supporting the large spallation neutron sources for materials characterization and instrumentation, a theme advocated by Bauer, Clausen, Mank, and Mulhauser in previous publications [2-4]. In 2010 the Union for Compact Accelerator-driven Neutron Sources (UCANS) was established [5], galvanizing cross-disciplinary collaborations on new source and neutronics development and expanded applications based on both slow-neutron scattering and other neutron-matter interactions of neutron energies ranging from 10⁻⁶ to 10² MeV [6]. Here, we first cover the recent development of ongoing and prospective projects of compact accelerator-driven neutron sources (CANS) but concentrate on prospective accelerators currently proposed in Italy. Two active R&D topics, irradiation effects on electronics and cultural heritage studies, are chosen to illustrate the impact of state-of-the-art CANS on these programs with respect to the characteristics and complementarity of the accelerator and neutronics systems as well as instrumentation development.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2014

High efficiency proportional neutron detector with solid liner internal structures

A tube-style neutron detector, a panel-style neutron detector incorporating a plurality of tube-style neutron detectors, and a panel-style neutron detector including a plurality of anode wires are provided. A plurality of channels is provided in a neutron detector such that each channel has an inner surface of a coating layer including a neutron-absorbing material. A wire anode is provided at end of each channel so that electrons generated by a charged daughter particle generated by a neutron are collected to detect a neutron-matter interaction. Moderator units can be incorporated into a neutron detector to provide improved detection efficiencies and/or to determine neutron energy spectrum. Gas-based proportional response from the neutron detectors can be employed for special nuclear material (SNM) detection. This neutron detector can provide similar performance to .sup.3He-based detectors without requiring .sup.3He and without containing toxic, flammable, or high-pressure materials.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2024

Neutron diffraction: a primer

Because of the neutron’s special properties, neutron diffraction may be considered one of the most powerful techniques for structure determination of crystalline and related matter. Neutrons can be released from nuclear fission, from spallation processes, and also from low-energy nuclear reactions, and they can then be used in powder, time-of-flight, texture, single crystal, and other techniques, all of which are perfectly suited to clarify crystal and magnetic structures. With high neutron flux and sufficient brilliance, neutron diffraction also excels for diffuse scattering, for in situ and operando studies as well as for high-pressure experiments of today’s materials. For these, the wave-like neutron’s infinite advantage (isotope specific, magnetic) is crucial to answering important scientific questions, for example, on the structure and dynamics of light atoms in energy conversion and storage materials, magnetic matter, or protein structures. In this primer, we summarize the current state of neutron diffraction (and how it came to be), but also look at recent advances and new ideas, e.g., the design of new instruments, and what follows from that.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Benchmark calculations of infinite neutron matter with realistic two- and three-nucleon potentials

In this study, we present the equation of state of infinite neutron matter as obtained from highly realistic Hamiltonians that include nucleon-nucleon and three-nucleon coordinate-space potentials. We benchmark three independent many-body methods: Brueckner-Bethe-Goldstone (BBG), Fermi hypernetted chain/single-operator chain (FHNC/SOC), and auxiliary-field diffusion Monte Carlo (AFDMC). We find them to provide similar equations of state when the Argonne v 18 and the Argonne v' 6 nucleon-nucleon potentials are used in combination with the Urbana IX three-body force. Only at densities larger than about 1.5 the nuclear saturation density ( ρ 0 =0.16 fm ⁻3 ) the FHNC/SOC energies are appreciably lower than the other two approaches. The AFDMC calculations carried out with all of the Norfolk potentials fitted to reproduce the experimental trinucleon ground-state energies and nd doublet scattering length yield unphysically bound neutron matter, associated with the formation of neutron droplets. Including tritium β decay in the fitting procedure, as in the second family of Norfolk potentials, mitigates but does not completely resolve this problem. An excellent agreement between the BBG and AFDMC results is found for the subset of Norfolk interactions that do not make neutron-matter collapse, while the FHNC/SOC equations of state are moderately softer.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Neutron matter from local chiral effective field theory interactions at large cutoffs

Neutron matter is an important many-body system that provides valuable constraints for the equation of state (EOS) of neutron stars. Neutron-matter calculations employing chiral effective field theory (EFT) interactions have been extensively used for this purpose. Among the various many-body methods, quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) methods stand out due to their nonperturbative nature and the achievable precision. However, QMC methods require local interactions as input, which leads to the appearance of stronger regulator artifacts compared to nonlocal interactions. To circumvent this, we employ large-cutoff interactions derived within chiral EFT (400 MeV ≤ Λ 𝑐 ≤ 700MeV) for studies of pure neutron matter. These interactions have been adjusted to nucleon-nucleon scattering phase shifts, the triton binding energy, as well as the triton 𝛽-decay half-life. We find that regulator artifacts significantly decrease with increasing cutoff, leading to a significant reduction of uncertainties in the neutron-matter EOS. We discuss implications for the symmetry energy and demonstrate how our new calculations lead to a reduction in the theoretical uncertainty of predicted neutron-star radii by up to 30% for low-mass stars.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Analyzing the Fierz rearrangement freedom for local chiral two-nucleon potentials

Chiral effective field theory is a framework to derive systematic nuclear interactions. It is based on the symmetries of quantum chromodynamics and includes long-range pion physics explicitly, while shorter-range physics is expanded in a general operator basis. The number of low-energy couplings at a particular order in the expansion can be reduced by exploiting the fact that nucleons are fermions and therefore obey the Pauli exclusion principle. The antisymmetry permits the selection of a subset of the allowed contact operators at a given order. When local regulators are used for these short-range interactions, however, this “Fierz rearrangement freedom” is violated. In this paper, we investigate the impact of this violation at leading order (LO) in the chiral expansion. We construct LO and next-to-leading order (NLO) potentials for all possible LO-operator pairs and study their reproduction of phase shifts, the 4 He ground-state energy, and the neutron-matter energy at different densities. We demonstrate that the Fierz rearrangement freedom is partially restored at NLO where subleading contact interactions enter. Here we also discuss implications for local chiral three-nucleon interactions.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Perturbative treatment of nonlocal chiral interactions in auxiliary-field diffusion Monte Carlo calculations

Nuclear many-body systems, ranging from nuclei to neutron stars, are some of the most interesting physical phenomena in our universe, and quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) approaches are among the most accurate many-body methods currently available to study them. In recent decades, interactions derived from chiral effective field theory (EFT) have been widely adopted in the study of nuclear many-body systems. One drawback of the QMC approach is the requirement that the nuclear interactions need to be local, whereas chiral EFT interactions usually contain nonlocalities. In this work, we leverage the capability of computing second-order perturbative corrections to the ground-state energy in order to develop a self-consistent approach to including nonlocal operators in QMC calculations. In conclusion, we investigate both the deuteron and the neutron-matter equation of state in order to show the robustness of our technique and pave the way for future QMC calculations at higher orders in the EFT, where nonlocal operators cannot be avoided.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Local chiral EFT potentials in nuclei and neutron matter: results and issues

In recent years, the combination of advanced quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) methods and local interactions derived from chiral effective field theory (EFT) has been shown to provide a versatile and systematic approach to nuclear systems. Calculations at next-to-next-to-leading order in chiral EFT have lead to fascinating results for nuclei and nucleonic matter. On the one hand, ground-state properties of nuclei are well reproduced up to A $≤$ 16, even though these potentials have been fit to nucleon-nucleon scattering and few-body observables only. On the other hand, a reasonable description of neutron-matter properties emerges. While regulator functions applied to two- and three-nucleon forces are a necessary ingredient in these many-body calculations, the use of local regulators leads to a substantial residual regulator and cutoff dependence that increases current theoretical uncertainties. In this contribution, we review local chiral interactions, their applications, and QMC results for nuclei and neutron matter. In addition, we address regulator issues for such potentials and present a possible path forward.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

How Well Do We Know the Neutron-Matter Equation of State at the Densities Inside Neutron Stars? A Bayesian Approach with Correlated Uncertainties

Here, we introduce a new framework for quantifying correlated uncertainties of the infinite-matter equation of state derived from chiral effective field theory (𝜒⁢EFT ). Bayesian machine learning via Gaussian processes with physics-based hyperparameters allows us to efficiently quantify and propagate theoretical uncertainties of the equation of state, such as 𝜒⁢EFT truncation errors, to derived quantities. We apply this framework to state-of-the-art many-body perturbation theory calculations with nucleon-nucleon and three-nucleon interactions up to fourth order in the 𝜒⁢EFT expansion. This produces the first statistically robust uncertainty estimates for key quantities of neutron stars. We give results up to twice nuclear saturation density for the energy per particle, pressure, and speed of sound of neutron matter, as well as for the nuclear symmetry energy and its derivative. At nuclear saturation density, the predicted symmetry energy and its slope are consistent with experimental constraints.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗