Ibrahim Abdurrahman (Michigan State University) gives a webinar on 'The Role of Superfluidity in Nuclear Fission'

Dr Ibrahim Abdurrahman (Michigan State University) gives a webinar on ‘The Role of Superfluidity in Nuclear Fission’.

In 1939, nuclear fission was discovered experimentally by Hahn and Strassmann [1], and shortly thereafter its main mechanism was explained by Meitner and Frisch [2]. Close to a century later, fission still lacks a complete microscopic description, in part, because it is a highly complex quantum many-body process, with qualitatively distinct stages, each of which occurs at vastly different timescales. This talk focuses on microscopic investigations into the most rapid and non-equilibrium stage of fission, the descent of the compound system from the outer turning point to scission, emphasizing the importance of pairing correlations during this stage.

[1] O. Hahn and F. Strassmann, Naturewissenschaften 27, 11 (1939).

[2] L. Meitner and O. R. Frisch, Nature 143 239 (1939).