Difference Between Direct and Compound Reaction
Difference Between Direct and Compound Reaction
Difference Between Direct and Compound Reaction
2 Direct reactions
2 Direct reactions
2 Direct reactions
2 Direct reactions
5 Boltzmann’s distribution
2 Direct reactions
5 Boltzmann’s distribution
Projectile and target are within the range of nuclear forces for the time
allowing for a large number of interactions between nucleons. These
type of reactions are called the compound nucleus reactions.
The opposite is true for the compound nucleus reactions. In fact the
number of steps involved in these types of reactions is so large that
can only be handled using statistical methods.
NUCS 342 (Lecture 24) March 21, 2011 3 / 24
Direct reactions
The nuclear structure of nuclei in the entrance and exit channel has a
direct impact on direct reaction dynamics.
This implicates reactions at high energy to limit the time available for
multiple internuclear interactions.
Direct reactions are fast (time scale to be estimated in the next slide).
The time scale of direct reaction is equal to the range of nuclear force
in the interaction divided by the relative speed of the projectile and
the target.
For the range of nuclear forces let us use the sum of the nuclear radii
plus ∆ = 2 fm:
1/3 1/3
R = Rp + RT + ∆R = 1.2 · (Ap + AT ) + 2 [fm] (1)
pp
θ
pd
pn
pp pn
θ
pd
The 10−19 s may seem short but it is ∼1000 times longer than the
characteristic time for direct reactions.
Independence hypothesis
The idea of compound nucleus formation comes from Niels Bohr, who
postulated equilibration of energy.
Maxwell distribution
m 3 mv 2
2
Φ(v )dv = exp − 4πv 2 dv .
2πkT 2kT
with Z ∞
Φ(v )dv = 1.
0
Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution
Maxwell distribution
For particles in ideal gas kinetic energy dominates over all other types of
energies
mv 2
E =K =
2
The Maxwell distribution as a function of energy is:
s
E E
Φ(E )dE = 2 exp − dE ,
π(kT )3 kT
with Z ∞
Φ(E )dE = 1
0
Boltzmann distribution
This should be contrasted with the direct reactions which show highly
anisotropic angular distributions.
A+a→C →B +b (11)