Speakers
Description
A dedicated model for low-energy (<150 MeV/n) deuteron nuclear reactions has been a long-standing shortcoming of FLUKA [1-3], a general-purpose code for the Monte Carlo simulation of radiation transport. In view of the recently increasing interest in deuteron transport (e.g. for radioisotope production in medical applications [4-5] and for nuclear fusion studies [6]), a model for low-energy-deuteron nuclear reactions has been included in FLUKA v4.2.
The model consists of the following main components. First, deuteron stripping to the continuum is accounted for on the basis of the Serber model [7], describing the (uncorrelated) energy- and angle distribution of the first emitted nucleon. The interaction of the conjugate nucleon with the target nucleus is then performed via FLUKA's model for hadron-nucleus inelastic interactions [8]. Next,nucleon transfer to discrete levels of the compound nucleus (typically the ground state and the first few low-lying excited levels) is treated for a selection of target isotopes within the distorted-wave Born approximation (DWBA) [9], with a minor adjustment of the underlying optical-potential-model parameters. Then, deuteron elastic break-up both in the Coulomb and in the nuclear field of the target nucleus is likewise described within the DWBA [10]. Finally, FLUKA's complete fusion model for low-energy nucleus-nucleus inelastic collisions has been invoked to enhance the experimentally observed [11] emission of fragments heavier than a nucleon.
An overview of the performance of the model for various target isotopes (from deuterium to uranium) and various energies (up to 150 MeV/n) shall be provided by way of comparison with experimental double-differential (energy and angle) cross sections, as well as thick target yields [11].
Refs:
[1] FLUKA website: https://fluka.cern
[2] G. Battistoni et al., "Overview of the FLUKA code", Ann. Nucl. Ene. 82, 10-18 (2015).
[3] T.T. Bohlen et al., "The FLUKA Code: Developments and Challenges for High Energy and Medical Applications", Nuclear Data Sheets 120, 211-214 (2014).
[4] C. Alliot et al., "Is there an interest to use deuteron beams to produce non-conventional radionuclides?", Front Med 2 31 (2015).
[5] M. Sitarz et al., "Production of Sc medical radioisotopes with proton and deuteron beams", Appl. Rad. Isot. 142 104-112 (2018).
[6] N. Chaivin et al., "Deuteron beam commissioning of the linear IFMIF protoype accelerator ion source and low energy beam transport", Nucl. Fus. 59 106001 (2019).
[7] R. Serber, "The production of high-energy neutrons by stripping", Phys. Rev. 72, 1008-1016 (1947).
[8] A. Ferrari et al., "The physics of high-energy reactions", Proc. Workshop on Nuclear Reaction Data and Nuclear Reactor Physics, Design, and Safety 424 (1998).
[9] L. Titus, "Effects of non-locality on transfer reactions", PhD thesis, Michigan State University (2016).
[10] G. Baur et al., "Investigations of the deuteron break-up on heavy nuclei above the Coulomb barrier", Nucl Phys A 265 101-112 (1976).
[11] N. Otuka et al., "Towards a more complete and accurate experimental nuclear reaction data library (EXFOR): international collaboration between nuclear reaction data centres (NRDC)", Nuclear Data Sheets 120 272-276 (2014).