Acceleration induced neutron emission in heavy nuclei

The quantum version of the "water-tank problem"  is applied to the independent-particle nuclear shell-model . The question to answer is: to what extend the acceleration of a nucleus influences its single particle states? From the classical analogue, one expects the nucleus to loose its less bound nucleons if the acceleration is high enough. Most probable this could happen to neutrons since, contrary to protons, they are not protected by a Coulomb barrier.

To answer this question, we solve the time-dependent Schrodinger
equation, with a moving mean-field of Woods-Saxon type. The time evolution of a single-neutron state at the Fermi level in $^{236}U$ is calculated for $10^{-21}$ sec using a constant acceleration .
During this time the wave function oscillates with increasing amplitude until it
escapes in the direction oposite to the motion of the nucleus (12$\%$) . Then we switch off the acceleration and follow the wave packet for another $10^{-21}$ sec. During this uniform motion  the wave packet continues to oscillate and  escapes  (2$\%$).

The acceleration chosen  is larger than during the Coulomb repulsion of two equal fission fragments from $^{236}U$  but comparable with that attained  during the collision of two $^{236}U$ nuclei .