Finite difference approach for the two-dimensional Schrödinger equation with application to scission-neutron emission Original Research Article

We present a grid-based procedure to solve the eigenvalue problem for the two-dimensional Schrödinger equation in cylindrical coordinates. The Hamiltonian is discretized by using adapted finite difference approximations of the derivatives and this leads to an algebraic eigenvalue problem with a large (sparse) matrix, which is solved by the method of Arnoldi. By this procedure the single particle eigenstates of nuclear systems with arbitrary deformations can be obtained. As an application we have considered the emission of scission neutrons from fissioning nuclei.