The nucleon localization function in static and time-dependent DFT

NSCL/FRIB Laboratory, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA

^* e-mail: schutrum@nscl.msu.edu
^** e-mail: zhangch@nscl.msu.edu

Published online: 22 November 2017

Abstract

Static and time-dependent density functional theory (DFT) calculations are often used to predict fission fragment distributions or fusion cross sections with great success. However, nuclear shell structure and clusterization effects are usually studied using the density distribution of the nucleons which is a poor indicator of these phenomena. In this work, we employ a measure called the localization function, which was first introduced in chemistry to visualize electronic bonds and recently applied to nuclear physics for light nuclei to reveal α-clustering. We show, that the localization function reveals the shell structure of the fragments in fission long before the scission point and also illustrates the shell structure of intermediate states in time-dependent DFT calculations.