Feshbach-Kerman-Koonin multistep reaction theory and its application to data evaluation

摘要

The development of the multistep nuclear reaction theory of Feshbach, Kerman, and Koonin (FKK) is reviewed, with particular attention to recent work. We present methodologies for unambiguously separating multistep direct and multistep compound contributions, and analyze neutron inelastic scattering by (sup 93)Nb at 14: MeV to illustrate the approaches. Modification of the FKK theory to include transitions from the multistep direct to the multistep compound chain (''P(yields)Q transitions'') is discussed. We also describe developments to the theory in order to calculate inelastic cross sections for incident nucleon energies to 200 MeV. At these high energies multiple preequilibrium emission processes must be included, and a theory for their determination is described and compared with experimental measurements of proton reactions on (sup 90)Zr. The usefulness of the FKK theory for a range of nuclear data applications, including intermediate energy reactions of importance in Accelerator Transmutation of Waste, reactions on biologically-important elements for cancer radiation treatment, and reactions of importance in fusion technology, is assessed.