A Review of a Synthetic Scattering Function Approach to the Thermal and Cold Neutron Scattering Kernels of Moderator Materials

Abstract

In the frame of a Synthetic Scattering Function (SSF), the incoherent interaction of slow neutrons with hydrogeneous materials can be described in a simple way. The main advantages of this model reside in the analytical expressions that it produces for multiple physics parameters of specific interest to the field of Neutron and Reactor Physics. These parameters include double-differential cross sections, energy-transfer kernels, and total cross sections, which in turn allow the evaluation of neutron scattering and transport properties. The possibility of calculating those quantities in a fast and accurate way, permits the production of group constants for any specific material, at any temperature, any degree in the Legendre expansion, and over any required energy mesh.