Unanswered Questions: Neutron Emission in the Nuclear Fission Process

Nuclear fission has been studied for over 50 years. Yet there remain several outstanding questions regarding neutron emission: Do neutrons originate from the fission fragments or from the scission? Are scission neutrons emitted perpendicular to the fission axis or as Kornilov posits do they trail in the wake of the fission fragments? If there are scission neutrons perpendicular to the axis by what degree are they coupled? Systematic problems with fission sources and detection equipment may be at the root of the issue. At BYU we are working to improve instrumentation for this research.