2010/01/05 by P. Descouvemont, P Descouvemont, D. Baye +1 · 8 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic nucleus #Cold Fusion and Nuclear Reactions #Crystallography and Radiation Phenomena #Formalism (music) #Nuclear physics research studies #Nuclear reaction #Nuclear structure #Scattering #Simple (philosophy) #Variety (cybernetics) #nucl-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0034-4885/73/3/036301
93 pages, 26 figures. Rep. Prog. Phys., in press
arxiv created 2010/01/05 · openalex publication_date 2010/02/23 · arxiv updated 2015/05/14 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The different facets of the R -matrix method are presented pedagogically in a general framework. Two variants have been developed over the years: (i) The 'calculable' R -matrix method is a calculational tool to derive scattering properties from the Schrödinger equation in a large variety of physical problems. It was developed rather independently in atomic and nuclear physics with too little mutual influence. (ii) The 'phenomenological' R -matrix method is a technique to parametrize various types of cross sections. It was mainly (or uniquely) used in nuclear physics. Both directions are explained by starting from the simple problem of scattering by a potential. They are illustrated by simple examples in nuclear and atomic physics. In addition to elastic scattering, the R -matrix formalism is applied to inelastic and radiative-capture reactions. We also present more recent and more ambitious applications of the theory in nuclear physics.