Fission Lifetimes and Yields for r-process Nucleosynthesis using Density Functional Theory Emulators

Fission lifetimes and fragment yields are critical inputs for modeling the rapid neutron capture process (r process) [1]. Density functional theory (DFT) predicts structure properties such as masses and radii, and provides inputs to decay rate calculations, across the nuclear landscape. However, large-scale predictions of fission properties still requires the use of model emulators (i.e. numerically inexpensive approximations to the exact DFT calculation). While neural network based emulators show some promise [2], they require considerable training data, and their accuracy cannot be easily improved. In this work, we explore a different approach based on recently-developed reduced order modeling techniques [3] to emulate the DFT calculations, and thereby compute fission lifetimes and yields across the nuclear chart. In this talk, I will explain the emulation technique used, present results for spontaneous fission, and comment on induced fission.

[1] M. Mumpower et al., doi:10.1103/PhysRevC.101.054607

[2] D. Lay et al., doi:10.1103/PhysRevC.109.044305

[3] D. Lay, Novel Computational Approaches for Nuclear Fission Theory