It is also well known that the knowledge of nuclear reaction mechanisms is at best approximate, and that their modeling relies on many parameters which do not have a precise physical meaning outside of their specific implementations in nuclear model codes: they carry both specific physical information, and effective information that is related to the deficiencies of the model itself. | Potential sources of uncertainties in nuclear reaction modeling EPJ Nuclear Sci. Technol. 4 16 2018 Nuclear Sciences S. Hilaire et al. published by EDP Sciences 2018 amp Technologies https epjn 2018014 Available online at https REGULAR ARTICLE Potential sources of uncertainties in nuclear reaction modeling Stephane Hilaire1 Eric Bauge1 Pierre Chau Huu-Tai1 Marc Dupuis1 Sophie Péru1 Olivier Roig1 Pascal Romain1 and Stephane Goriely2 1 CEA DAM DIF 91297 Arpajon France 2 Institut d Astronomie et d Astrophysique Université Libre de Bruxelles CP-226 1050 Brussels Belgium Received 31 October 2017 Received in final form 12 February 2018 Accepted 4 May 2018 Abstract. Nowadays reliance on nuclear models to interpolate or extrapolate between experimental data points is very common for nuclear data evaluation. It is also well known that the knowledge of nuclear reaction mechanisms is at best approximate and that their modeling relies on many parameters which do not have a precise physical meaning outside of their specific implementations in nuclear model codes they carry both specific physical information and effective information that is related to the deficiencies of the model itself. Therefore to improve the uncertainties associated with evaluated nuclear data the models themselves must be refined so that their parameters can be rigorously derived from theory. Examples of such a process will be given for a wide sample of models like detailed theory of compound nucleus decay through multiple nucleon or gamma emission or refinements to the width fluctuation factor of the Hauser-Feshbach model. All these examples will illustrate the reduction in the effective components of nuclear model parameters through the reduced dynamics of parameter adjustment needed to account for experimental data. The significant progress recently achieved for the non-fission channels also highlights the difficult path ahead to improve our quantitative understanding of fission in
