Features of Scattering by a Nonspherical Potential

Abstract

A model for solving the scattering problem by an axially symmetric potential has been developed. On the basis of this model, the interaction of the ²³⁸U isotope with a neutron has been studied. The correct accounting for the nonspherical shape of the uranium nucleus is accented. The optical potential has been used as the model. The spherically symmetric and nonspherical potentials are shown to result in different pictures of scattering, and, particularly, different resonance features of scattering. One of the directions of development of nuclear physics can be conditionally called extensive. Progress in the use of numerical methods leads to the necessity for the maximum possible account of all possible aspects of nuclear interactions, already known in principle. Relatively recently, the possibility of considering the nonspherical form of the nuclear interaction has been included in the software packages that allow calculating nuclear reactions, along with other necessary components [1, 2]. In the former work, the calculation of the interaction is based on the use of the TDHF approximation [3], in the latter, on the use of classical trajectories. On the one hand, the effect of nonsphericity is included in the code packages, while on the other hand, the calculation of the interaction is based on approximate, sometimes not even quantum-mechanical, schemes. In this study, we treat new effects arising from scattering by a nonspherical potential in the framework of quantum mechanics. As an example, one of the widely used reactions of nuclear power energetics was chosen—the interaction of a neutron with the nucleus of uranium-238. The interaction is described using an optical potential, which is one of the most popular simple potentials.