Statistical nuclear physics has been experiencing a resurgence in recent years due to its importance in practical calculations of reaction cross-sections in different areas of basic and applied nuclear physics. It is widely used in calculation of capture reaction rates (r-, i-, p-, and s- processes) in nuclear astrophysics, isotope production calculations, and the evaluation of reaction cross-sections for the ENDF nuclear database, which is an indispensable input for the simulation of nuclear processes in different areas of nuclear technology. As such, the time is ripe to “take the temperature” of the field of statistical nuclear physics to share recent advances and promising opportunities.
Topics: Statistical nuclear physics, level density, gamma-strength function, optical potential, Hauser-Feshbach modeling, reaction modeling, nucleosynthesis, data evaluation