Tang H, Wang G, Cappellaro P, Li J. μeV-Deep Neutron Bound States in Nanocrystals.
ACS Nano 2024;
18:9063-9070. [PMID:
38489522 DOI:
10.1021/acsnano.3c12929]
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Abstract
The strong nuclear force gives rise to the widely studied neutron scattering states and MeV-energy nuclear bound states. Whether this same interaction could lead to low-energy bound states for a neutron in the nuclear force field of a cluster of nuclei is an open question. Here, we computationally demonstrate the existence of μeV-level neutronic bound states originating from the strong interactions in nanocrystals with a spatial extent of tens of nanometers. These negative-energy neutron wave functions depend on the size, dimension, and nuclear spin polarization of the nanoparticles, providing engineering degrees of freedom for the artificial neutronic "molecule".
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