NUCLEAR REACTIONS
C.A. BERTULANI
Department of Physics, Texas A&M University, Commerce, TX 75429, USA
Nuclear reactions generate energy in nuclear reactors, in stars, and are responsible for the ex-
istence of all elements heavier than hydrogen in the universe. Nuclear reactions denote reactions
between nuclei, and between nuclei and other fundamental particles, such as electrons and photons.
A short description of the conservation laws and the definition of basic physical quantities is pre-
sented, followed by a more detailed account of specific cases: (a) formation and decay of compound
nuclei; (b)direct reactions; (c) photon and electron scattering; (d) heavy ion collisions; (e) forma-
tion of a quark-gluon plasma; (f) thermonuclear reactions; (g) and reactions with radioactive beams.
Whenever necessary, basic equations are introduced to help understand general properties of these
reactions. Published in Wiley Encyclopedia of Physics, ISBN-13: 978-3-527-40691-3 - Wiley-VCH,
Berlin, 2009.
arXiv:0908.3275v2 [nucl-th] 14 Jul 2010
example, the reaction + + 12 C can take place distributed among all nucleons, forming a highly excited
in the overheated plasma of stellar interiors. compound nucleus. The decay of the compound nucleus
The initial and final products can also be identical. leads to the final products of the reaction.
This case characterizes a process which can be elastic, as In high energies collisions, the nuclei fragment and
inp + 16 O p + 16 O, where there is only transfer of particles that were not initially present are produced
kinetic energy between projectile and target, or inelastic, (for instance, pions, kaons, etc.). The reactions proceed
as in n + 16 O n + 16 O , where part of the kinetic through an intermediate phase in which the nuclear mat-
energy of the system is used in the excitation of 16 O. ter is compressed. At very high energies the quarks and
Naturally, nuclear reactions are not limited to nuclei. gluons inside nucleons become free for a short time
They could involve any type of particle, and also radia- forming the quark-gluon plasma. The study of high en-
tion. Thus, the reactions ergy reactions with nuclei is very important for a better
understanding of what happens during spectacular stel-
63 62
+ Cu Ni + p, lar explosions (supernovae) and in the interior of compact
233 90
+ U Rb + 141 Cs + 2n, (3) stars, as for instance, neutron stars. The study of nuclear
reactions at high energies allows to obtain information on
are examples of nuclear processes induced by gamma ra- the equation of state of nuclear matter.
diation. In the first case a -ray knocks a proton off
63
Cu and in the second it induces nuclear fission of 233 U,
with the production of two fragments and emission of two II. BASIC PRINCIPLES
neutrons.
Unlike a chemical reaction, the resulting products of a A. Conservation laws
nuclear reaction are not determined univocally: starting
from two or more reactants there can exist dozens of final
products with an unlimited number of available quantum Several conservation laws contribute to restrict the
states. As an example, the collision of a deuteron with possible processes in a nuclear reaction.
238
U can give place, among others, to the following reac- 1- Baryonic number - There is no experimental ev-
tions: idence of processes in which nucleons are created or
destroyed without the creation or destruction of corre-
238 240 sponding antinucleons. The application of this principle
d + U Np + ,
239 to low energy reactions is still more restrictive. Below the
Np + n,
239 threshold for the production of mesons ( 140 MeV), no
U + p,
237 process related to the nuclear forces is capable to trans-
U + t. (4)
form a proton into a neutron and vice-versa, and pro-
In the first of them the deuteron is absorbed by the ura- cesses governed by the weak force (responsible for the -
nium, forming an excited nucleus of 240 Np that de-excites emission of nuclei) are very slow in relation to the times
by emitting a -ray. The two following are examples of involved in nuclear reactions ( 1022 to 1016 s). In this
stripping reactions, in which a nucleon is transferred from way, we can speak separately of proton and neutron con-
the projectile to the target. The last one exemplifies the servation, which should show up with same amounts in
inverse process: the deuteron captures a neutron from both sides of a nuclear reaction.
the target and emerges out as 3 H (tritium). This is de- 2 - Charge - This is a general conservation principle
noted as a pick-up reaction. Another possibility would in physics, valid in any circumstance. In purely nuclear
be, in the first reaction, that 240 Np fissions instead of reactions it is computed making the sum of the atomic
emitting a -ray, contributing with dozens of possible fi- numbers, which should be identical, at both sides of the
nal products for the reaction. reaction.
Each reaction branch, with well defined quantum 3 - Energy and linear momentum - These are two of the
states of the participants, is known as channel. In 4, most applied principles in the study of the kinematics
for the entrance channel d + 238 U, there are four pos- of reactions. Through them, angles and velocities are
sible exit channels. Notice that a different exit channel related to the initial parameters of the problem.
would be reached if some of the final products were in 4 - Total angular momentum - is always a constant of
an excited state. The probability that a nuclear reaction motion. In the reaction
takes place through a certain exit channel depends on 10
B + 4
He 1
H + 13
C, (5)
the energy of the incident particle and is measured by
10
the cross section for that channel. B has I = 3 in the ground state, whereas the -particle
Nuclear reactions proceed through many possible dis- has zero angular momentum. If it is captured in an s-
tinct mechanisms. For instance, in direct reactions the wave (li = 0), the intermediate compound nucleus is in
projectile and the target have an interaction of short du- a state with Ic = 3. Both final products have intrinsic
ration, with possible exchange of energy or particles be- angular momenta equal to 1/2. Hence, their sum is 0 or
tween them. Another mechanism involves the fusion of 1. Therefore the relative angular momentum of the final
the projectile with the target, the available energy being products will be lf = 2, 3 or 4.
3
B. Kinematics
the elastic channel, what is measured by the flux of the F. Excitation functions
current of probability vector through a spherical surface
of large radius centered at the target, calculated with the
When the projectile has a very low energy, k 0,
total wave function of eq. 12. One finds
and in particular, l = kR 1. As an example con-
X sider the scattering of neutrons with l = 0 and ignore the
2
r = (2l + 1)(1 |l |2 ). (16) spins of the neutron and of the target. In this case the
l=0 Schrodinger equation for the radial motion of the neutron
with respect to the target is
From equations 15 and 16: when |l | = 1 the reaction d2 u0
cross section is zero and we have pure scattering. The + k 2 u0 = 0 (r R). (19)
dr2
contrary, however, cannot happen, as the vanishing of e
also implies in the vanishing of r . In general there is This is valid for the radial wave function u0 at distances
a region of allowed values of l for which the two cross r larger than the channel radius R = Ra + RA , with Ra
sections can coexist. and RA being the radii of the projectile and of the target,
The maximum of r happens for l = 0, what cor- respectively. The solution of eq. 19 is
responds to total absorption. Let us suppose that the u0 = 0 eikr eikr (r R). (20)
absorption potential is limited to the surface of a nucleus
with radius R , that is, that all the particles with im- A radial wave function inside the nucleus should connect
pact parameter smaller than the radius R are absorbed. to the external function 20 with a continuous function
That is equivalent to say that all particles are absorbed and its derivative at r = R. That is, the function
In this case
for l R/.
dul /dr
fl R (21)
R/ ul r=R
X
2
r = 2.
(2l + 1) = (R + ) (17) must have identical values if calculated with the internal
l=0 or the external function and this condition creates a re-
lationship between fl and l . Hence, the knowledge of fl
This is the value that would be intuitively adequate for leads to the knowledge of the cross sections. For neutrons
the total cross section, i.e., equal to the geometric cross with l = 0, the application of 20 results in
can be understood as an uncertainty
section (the part
in the position of the incident particle). But, we saw 0 + e2ikR
above that the presence of scattering is always obligatory. f0 = ikR , (22)
0 e2ikR
6
we have
2 4kRfI long time. We say that there is, in this situation, the
r,0 = (26)
fR2 + (fI kR)2 formation of a compound nucleus as intermediary stage
of the reaction. In the final stage the compound nucleus
an equation that is useful when we study the presence of can evaporate one or more particles, fission, etc. In our
resonances in the excitation function (cross section as a notation, for the most common situation in which two
function of the energy). final products are formed (the evaporated particle plus
the residual nucleus or two fission fragments, etc.) we
write:
III. STATISTICAL REACTIONS a + A C B + b,
the cross section for each one of the three exit channels
should be independent of the way the compound nucleus
is formed. That is, the properties of the compound nu-
cleus do not have any relationship with the nuclei that
formed it. This is confirmed in figure 4, where one sees
clearly that the cross sections depend practically only on
the exit channels.
The angular distribution of fragments, or evaporated
particles, of a compound nucleus should be isotropic in
the center of mass, and this is verified experimentally.
However, the total angular momentum is conserved and
cannot be forgotten. Reactions with large transfer of
angular momentum, as when heavy ions are used as pro-
jectiles, can show a non-isotropic angular distribution in
FIG. 5: Energy spectrum of neutrons evaporated by a com-
the center of mass system. pound nucleus.
The occurrence of a nuclear reaction in two stages al-
lows the cross section for a reaction A(a,b)B to be written
as the product, (a,b) = c (a,A)P (b), where c (a, A) is
the cross section of formation of the compound nucleus It is related to the density of levels of the daughter
starting from the projectile a and the target A and P (b) nucleus B by
is the probability that the compound nucleus emits a
particle b leaving a residual nucleus B. If the quantum 1 dS
numbers of entrance and exit channels are well specified, = , (32)
dE
i.e., if the reaction begins at an entrance channel and
ends at an exit channel , one can write with
u0
= exp(iKr) (r < R), (35)
p
where K = 2m(E V0 )/~ is the wavenumber inside
the nucleus, and it is assumed that the neutron with total
energy E is subject to a negative potential V0 . Eq. 35 is
clearly a crude simplification when the incident neutron
FIG. 6: Values of the level density parameter a as a func- interacts in a complicated way with the other nucleons
tion of the neutron number. Far from magic regions, a in the nucleus. It allows, however, to explain the average
N/4.5 MeV1 which approximately corresponds to a = A/7.5 behavior of the cross sections for low energies. Starting
MeV1 [13]. with eqs. 21 and 35 one determines the value of f0 :
f0 = iKR (36)
2 4kK
c = (37)
(k + K)2
for the cross section of compound nucleus formation for
neutrons with l = 0. At low energies, E << |V0 |, thus
k << K. Under these conditions, c = 4/kK, since
= k 1 >> R. Thus, c varies with 1/k. That is,
1
c , (38)
v
where v is the velocity of the incident neutron. This is
FIG. 7: Total cross section for low energy neutrons hitting the well-known 1/v law that governs the behavior of the
235
U. capture cross section of low energy neutrons. Figure 7
exhibits the excitation function (cross section as function
of the energy) for the reaction n+235 U. The cross section
decays with 1/v up to 0.3 eV, where a series of resonances
B. Energy spectrum of neutrons appear.
i 2
2 exp(2ikR) 1 +
e,0 = , (40)
The fluctuating behavior of low-energy nuclear reac-
(E ER ) + i 2 tions is due to the interference of the reaction amplitudes
10
We have an oscillatory behavior for the angular distribu- The sum 58 embraces all the nucleons in the configura-
tion, the maxima separated by from each other in the tions j of the product nucleus. The statistical weight
axis kR. (2JB + 1)/(2JA + 1) that appears in the DWBA calcu-
The Born approximation with plane waves predicts for lation involving the angular momentum of the target nu-
certain cases the correct place of the first peaks in the cleus JA and final nucleus JB , is explicitly given in 57.
14
V. HEAVY ION REACTIONS of few nucleons. When the incident energy is sufficiently
high, small values of b can lead to the projectile pene-
A. Types and properties trating the target. Depending on the energy and on the
involved masses, the reaction can end in one of the pro-
Heavy ion reactions (with A > 4) can be separated cesses below:
into 3 major categories. a) Fusion - is the preferred process when one has light
1) Due to their large charge, two heavy nuclei feel a nuclei and low energy. There is the formation of a highly
strong mutual Coulomb repulsion. To produce a nuclear excited compound nucleus that decays by evaporation
reaction the projectile needs enough energy to overcome of particles and -radiation emission, leading to a cold
the Coulomb barrier. For a very heavy target, as 238 U, it residual nucleus. If the energy in the CM is close to the
is necessary about 5 MeV per nucleon. Then the wave- Coulomb barrier energy the cross section of compound
length of the projectile is small compared with the di- nucleus formation starting from two nuclei is practically
mensions of the nuclei and classical and semi-classical equal to the reaction cross section.
methods become useful in the description of the reaction. b) Fission - When the compound nucleus is heavy the
2) The projectile carries a large amount of angular mo- fission process competes strongly with the evaporation of
mentum and a good part of it can be transferred to the particles in each stage of the evaporation process. A very
target in the reaction. Rotational bands with several heavy compound nucleus with a large excitation energy
dozens of units of angular momentum can be created. In has a very small probability of arriving to a cold residual
fact, heavy ion reactions are the best suited to feed high nucleus without fission at some stage of the de-excitation.
spin levels. The role of the angular momentum l transmitted to the
3) Direct reactions and formation of compound nucleus target nucleus is also essential. The fission barrier de-
are also common processes in reactions with heavy ions. creases with the increase of l and for a critical value lcrit
But some peculiarities of these are not found in reactions the barrier ceases to exist. A nucleus with angular mo-
with projectile nucleons. One of these processes can be mentum greater than lcrit suffers immediate fission and
understood as intermediate between a direct reaction and this is also a limiting factor in the production of super-
the formation of a compound nucleus. Fusion does not heavy elements.
occur but projectile and target pass a relatively long time c) Deep inelastic collision (DIC) - is a phenomenon
under the mutual action of the nuclear forces. Nuclear characteristic of reactions involving very heavy nuclei
matter is exchanged between both and there is a strong (A > 40) and with an incident energy of 1 MeV to
heating of the two nuclei, with a large transfer of kinetic 3 MeV above the Coulomb barrier. In DIC the projectile
energy to the internal degrees of freedom. These are the and the target spend some time under mutual action, ex-
deep inelastic collisions. changing masses and energy but without arriving to the
The kind of process that prevails depends upon the formation of a compound nucleus. The projectile escapes
distance of closest approach d between the projectile after transferring part of its energy and angular momen-
and target. If this distance is sufficiently large only tum to its internal degrees of freedom and to the target,
the long range Coulomb interaction acts and, for a clas- with values reaching 100 MeV and 50~.
sical hyperbolic trajectory, d is related to the impact One of the most interesting aspects of DIC is the cor-
parameter b and to the energy E of the projectile by relation between the energy dissipated in the collision
h i1/2
d = a/2 + (a/2)2 + b2 where a is the distance of and the scattering angle in the center of mass. Let us
look at figure 12(top). The trajectory 1 shows the pro-
closest approach in a head-on collision. It is this is re- jectile with an impact parameter that leads it out of the
lated to E by a = Z1 Z2 e2 /40 E. range of nuclear forces. The Coulomb scattering angle
Experimentally, the variable under control is the en- will become larger as the impact parameter decreases.
ergy E of the projectile and, for E sufficiently large, d In a graph as in figure 12(bottom), where one plots the
can be small enough to enter the range of nuclear forces. final energy against the scattering angle, trajectories of
Collisions near this limit are called grazing collisions and type 1 are located in the upper branch, where there is
are characterized by values of bgraz and dgraz . Assuming no dissipation and the initial kinetic energy stays unaf-
that there is always reaction when b < bgraz , the reac- fected. This upper branch has a maximum value for the
tion cross section r can be determined geometrically by scattering angle. At a smaller impact parameter the nu-
r = b2graz . The experimental determination of r al- clear attractive force begins to act and, with that the
1/3 1/3
lows to establish the value dras = 0.5 + 1.36(A1 + A2 ) effects of dissipation of DIC. A given Coulomb scattering
showing that the distance of grazing collision is some- angle can also be reached by the combination of the
what larger than that deduced from two touching spheres nuclear and Coulomb forces. Only that now there is loss
(1.36 fm > r0 = 1.2 fm). of energy and the events are located in the branch 2 of
When the impact parameter is close to bgraz one ex- figure 12(b). There still is no one-to-one correspondence
pects nuclear reactions of short duration, without the between angle and energy because an infinite number of
contribution of the compound nucleus formation. Such trajectories can lead to the same angle . The branch
reactions are elastic and inelastic scattering and transfer 2 should be understood as a line of maxima in a three-
15
f p
+ + p U r f r U r f =
Zt m
Z
3
d p2 d N N () |v1 v2 |
If dN is the number of particles in the volume ele- FIG. 14: - Contour plots of baryon density in the reaction
plane in Au + Au collisions at 400 MeV/nucleon. The dis-
ment d3 r and whose momenta fall in the momentum
played contour lines are for the densities /0 = 0.1, 0.5, 1,
element d3 p at time t, then the distribution function 1.5, and 2 [27].
f (r, p, t) is given by dN = f (r, p, t) d3 rd3 p. Thus the
BUU equation is an equation for the distribution func-
tion f (r, p, t). To account for the effect of each particle Brueckner theory. However, in practice the simulations
interacting with all others, one introduces the concept of are often done with a phenomenological mean field and
mean-field, U (r, p, t) . This mean-field exerts a force on free nuclear cross sections.
each particle, given by r U (r, p, t) . Also, the momen- An important ingredient in the transport theory calcu-
tum dependence of the potential introduces a dependence lations is the compressibility K of nuclear matter, which
through the derivative p U (r, p, t) . refers to the second derivative of the compressional en-
Due to the nucleon-nucleon collisions, the distribution ergy E with respect to the density:
function within d3 rd3 p can also be modified by nucleons
leaving (or entering) this volume. This is taken care by 2
2 E
the collision term, i.e. the right-hand-side of the BUU K = 9 2
. (69)
A
equation. N N is the nucleon-nucleon differential scat-
tering cross section, v1 and v2 are the velocities of two This is an important quantity, e.g., for nuclear astro-
colliding nucleons. The first factor inside braces are for physics. Supernova models might or not lead to explo-
collisions populating the volume element and the second sions depending on the value of K. The central collisions
term for those depleting it. The factors (1 f ) account of heavy nuclei are one of the few probes of this quantity
for Pauli blocking of final occupied states. The integrals in the laboratory. The dependence of the calculations on
average over scattering angle and over all collisions within K follow from the dependence of the mean field poten-
d3 rd3 p. The BUU equation falls in the category of what tial U (U E/A+ kinetic energy terms) on the particle
one calls quantum transport theories. Hadronic trans- density . A typical parametrization for U is the Skyrme
port theories have been quite successful in applications, parametrizationU = a/0 + b (/0 ) .
describing a multitude of measured particle spectra. The output of eq. (68) is the distribution function
Eq. (68) needs as basic ingredients the mean field U f (r, p, t), which allows one to calculate many proper-
and the cross section N N . Because these two quantities ties of heavy-ion collisions. Let us quote collective flows,
are related to each other, one should in principle derive proton and neutron production rates, (sub-threshold and
them in a self-consistent microscopic approach, as in the above threshold) pion and kaon yields, etc. Combining
19
FIG. 17: The p-p chain reaction (p-p cycle). The percentage
for the several branches are calculated in the center of the FIG. 18: The CNO cycle. (courtesy of Frank Timmes).
Sun [35].
or
temperature in its surface is 6000 C, while in its interior 7 8 8 4
+ e+ + e .
the temperature reaches 1.5107 K, with a pressure given 4 Be + p 5B + , 5B 2 2 He
by 61011 atm and density 150 g/cm3 . The present mass (78)
of the Sun is M = 21033 g and its main composition is The chain reaction (73)-(78) is called the hydrogen cy-
hydrogen (70%), helium (29%) and less than 1% of more cle. The result of this cycle is the transformation of four
heavy elements, like carbon, oxygen, etc. protons into an -particle, with an energy gain of 26.7
What are the nuclear processes which originate the MeV, about 20% of which are carried away by the neu-
huge thermonuclear energy of the Sun, and that has last trinos (see fig. 17).
4.6 109 years (the assumed age of the Sun)? It cannot If the star contains heavier elements, another cycle can
be the simple fusion of two protons, or of -particles, or occur; the carbon cycle, or CNO cycle [37]. In this cycle
even the fusion of protons with -particles, since neither the carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen nuclei are catalyzers of
2 8 5 nuclear processes, with the end product also in the form
2 He, 4 Be, or 3 Li, are stable. The only possibility is the
proton-proton fusion in the form 4p 42 He. fig. 18 describes the CNO cycle. Due to
the larger Coulomb repulsion between the carbon nuclei,
p + p d + e+ + e , (73) it occurs at higher temperatures (larger relative energy
between the participant nuclei), up to 1.4 107 K. In the
which occurs via -decay, i.e., due to the weak- Sun the hydrogen cycle prevails. But, in stars with larger
interaction. The cross section for this reaction for pro- temperatures the CNO cycle is more effective.
tons of energy around 1 MeV is very small, of the order of After the protons are transformed into helium at the
1023 b. The average lifetime of protons in the Sun due center of a star like our Sun, the fusion reactions start to
to the transformation to deuterons by means of eq. (73) consume protons at the surface of the star. At this stage
is about 1010 y. This explains why the energy radiated the star starts to become a red giant. The energy gen-
from the Sun is approximately constant in time, and not erated by fusion increases the temperature and expands
an explosive process. the surface of the star. The star luminosity increases.
The deuteron produced in the above reaction is con- The red giant contracts again after the hydrogen fuel is
sumed almost immediately in the process burned.
d + p 3 Other thermonuclear processes start. The first is the
2 He + . (74)
helium burning when the temperature reaches 108 K and
3
The resulting 2 He reacts by means of the density becomes 106 g.cm3 . Helium burning starts
3 3 4 with the triple capture reaction
2 He + 2 He 2 He + 2p, (75)
3 42 He 126 C + 7.65 MeV,
(79)
which produces the stable nucleus 42 He with a great en-
ergy gain, or by means of the reaction followed by the formation of oxygen via the reaction
3 4 7
2 He + 2 He 4 Be + . (76) 12 4 16
6C + 2 He 8O + . (80)
In the second case, a chain reaction follows as
For a star with the Sun mass, helium burning occurs
7
+ e 7 7 4
4 Be 3 Li + e , 3 Li + p 2 2 He, in about 107 y. For a much heavier star the temperature
(77) can reach 109 K. The compression process followed by the
22
separated into the traditional expression without screen- IX. REACTIONS WITH RADIOACTIVE
ing and a screening factor NUCLEAR BEAMS
< v >j,k = fscr (Zj , Zk , , T, Yi ) < v >j,k . (87) The basic research activity in nuclear physics, driven
by the desire to understand the forces which dictate the
properties of nuclei, has spawned a large number of ben-
This screening factor is dependent on the charge of eficial applications. Amongst its many progeny we can
the involved particles, the density, temperature, and the count reactor- and spallation-based neutron sources, syn-
composition of the plasma. Here Yi denotes the abun- chrotron radiation sources, particle physics, materials
dance of nucleus i defined by Yi = ni /(NA ), where ni modification by implantation, carbon dating and much
is the number density of nuclei per unit volume and NA more. It is an excellent example of the return to society
Avogadros number. At high densities and low temper- of investment in basic research.
atures screening factors can enhance reactions by many All of these achievements have been realized by accel-
orders of magnitude and lead to pycnonuclear ignition. erating the 283 stable or long-lived nuclear species we
When in eq. (85) particle k is a photon, the relative find here on Earth. In recent years, however, it has be-
velocity is always c and quantities in the integral are not come evident that it is now technically possible to create
dependent on d3 nj . Thus it simplifies to rj = j, nj and and accelerate unstable nuclei and, and there are some
j, results from an integration of the photodisintegra- 6-7,000 distinct nuclear species which live long enough
tion cross section over a Planck distribution for photons to be candidates for acceleration. They are the nuclei
of temperature T within the so-called drip-lines, the point where the nu-
cleus can no longer hold another particle. This has led to
many new opportunities in industry, medicine, material
c(E )E2
Z Z
1 studies and the environment.
rj = d3 nj dE . (88)
(c~)3
2
0 exp(E /kT ) 1 Assume that a highly energetic uranium projectile
(N/Z 1.6) hits a target nucleus in an almost central
collision, as shown in fig. 20. A part of the projectile
There is, however, no direct need to evaluate photodis-
(participant) is scrapped off and forms a highly excited
integration cross sections, because, due to detailed bal-
mixture of nucleons with a part of the target. A piece of
ance, they can be expressed by the capture cross sections
the projectile (spectator) flies away with nearly the same
for the inverse reaction l + m j + .
velocity of the beam. The neutron-to-proton ratio of the
A procedure similar to eq. (88) is used for electron spectator is nearly equal to that of the projectile. Since
captures by nuclei. Because the electron is about 2000 the N/Z - ratio of light nuclei (stable) is close to one,
times less massive than a nucleon, the velocity of the the fragment is far from the stability line. Statistically,
nucleus j is negligible in the center of mass system in a large number of fragments with different N/Z - ra-
comparison to the electron velocity (|vj ve | |ve |). tios is created and several new exotic nuclei have been
The electron capture cross section has to be integrated discovered in this way. These nuclei can be collected in
over a Boltzmann, partially degenerate, or Fermi distri- a secondary beam, further accelerated and induce reac-
bution of electrons, depending on the astrophysical con- tions with a target nucleus. This method has become
ditions. The electron capture rates are a function of T an important tool to study the properties of short-lived
and ne = Ye NA , the electron number density [36]. In isotopes.
a neutral, completely ionized plasma, the electron abun- Experiments with secondary-beams are limited by re-
dancePis equal to the total proton abundance in nuclei action cross section and luminosity. The luminosity L
Ye = i Zi Yi and rj = j,e (T, Y e )nj . is defined as the product of beam intensity i and target
This treatment can be generalized for the capture of thickness t, L = i t. The reaction rate N is the product
positrons, which are in a thermal equilibrium with pho- of luminosity and reaction cross section r , N = r L..
tons, electrons, and nuclei. At high densities ( > 1012 In most of the reactions the usable target thickness is lim-
g.cm3 ) the size of the neutrino scattering cross section ited by the width of the excitation function (i.e. the cross
on nuclei and electrons ensures that enough scattering section as a function of the excitation energy). Produc-
events occur to thermalize a neutrino distribution. Then tion reactions with a wide excitation function covering a
also the inverse process to electron capture (neutrino cap- broad energy range can profit in luminosity by the use of
ture) can occur and the neutrino capture rate can be thick targets.
expressed similarly to Eq. (88), integrating over the neu- The condition for fragmentation of heavy ions is that
trino distribution. Also inelastic neutrino scattering on the projectile should move faster than nucleons move in-
nuclei can be expressed in this form. Finally, for nor- side the nucleus. The projectile energy should be suffi-
mal decays, like beta or alpha decays with half-life 1/2 , ciently above the Fermi domain, e.g. above 100 A MeV.
we obtain an equation similar to Eq. (88) or rj of the The usable target thickness for these high energies is of
last paragraph with a decay constant j = ln 2/1/2 and the order of several grams per square centimeter, corre-
rj = j nj . sponding to 1023 atoms/cm2 . The excitation function for
24
FIG. 22: The matter density radii of several light nuclei com-
pared to the trend R 1.18 A1/3 fm (dashed line) for
normal nuclei. The solid lines are guides to the eyes.
300 keV. In 6 He it is 0.97 MeV. These are very small short-lived nuclei, many of which are poorly known, is
values and should be compared with Sn = 6 8 MeV important for astrophysics (r-process) and cosmology, (b)
which is the average binding of nucleons in stable nuclei. nuclear medicine benefits from studies of new nuclear iso-
Abnormally large radii were also found for other light topes, (c) and the list goes on. But the basic question
neutron-rich nuclei. still remains: what combinations of neutrons and protons
The matter density radii of these nuclei do not follow can make up a nucleus? The experimental detection of
the observed trend R 1.18 A1/3 fm of normal nuclei. new nuclear isotopes is an ongoing research which will ul-
Thus the halo seems to be a common feature of loosely- timately lead to new insight and development of nuclear
bound neutron-rich nuclei. science, with enormous profit for mankind [46].
Several other methods have been devised to probe the
structure of nuclei far from the valley of stability. Among
these are (a) Coulomb dissociation [39], (b) Trojan horse
method [40], (c) asymptotic normalization coefficients Acknowledgments
[41], (d) heavy ion charge-exchange [42], (e) knockout
[43] and (f) fusion reactions [44]. These methods yield The author is grateful to Prof. Reinhard Stock and
different insights into the structure of exotic nuclei and Prof. Konrad Gelbke for their support and encourage-
comprise most of experiments in radioactive beam facil- ment. This work was supported in part by funds pro-
ities [45]. vided by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) un-
Reactions producing rare nuclear isotopes has opened der contract No. DE-FG02-08ER41533 and DE-FC02-
a new research front in nuclear physics with applications 07ER41457 (UNEDF, SciDAC-2), and the Research Cor-
in many areas of science: (a) the rapid production of poration under Award No. 10497.
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