A unified model of electron stopping and electron-phonon coupling to better understand radiation damage in zirconium

核电站的结构材料不断受到高能粒子，即中子的轰击。这些高能粒子将一部分动量传递给构成材料的原子，这些原子又会与材料中的其他原子发生碰撞。这就是为什么在核反应堆中使用的结构材料与在其他类型的发电厂中使用的结构材料的老化非常不同的原因。此外，这些高能原子不仅会与其他原子的原子核发生碰撞，还会被它们的电子云所阻挡。这就是所谓的电子停止。这些类型的原子碰撞和电子停止不能通过实验直接观察到，因为涉及的长度和时间尺度非常小。因此，我们依靠计算机模拟来帮助我们理解它们。女王大学和塔尔图大学（爱沙尼亚）合作的目的是为锆开发一种最先进的电子停止模型，锆被广泛用作加拿大核反应堆的结构材料。使用这种改进的电子停止模型，我们将能够更准确地预测和量化加拿大核电生产期间发生的辐射引起的损害。

Structural materials in nuclear power plants are continuously bombarded by high energy particles, namely, neutrons. These high-energy particles transfer a part of their momentum to atoms of which the material is composed, which in turn will collide with other atoms in the material. This is why structural materials age very differently in nuclear reactors in comparison to structural materials used in other types of power plants. In addition, these high-energy atoms will not only collide with other atoms' nuclei, but they will also be stopped by their electronic cloud. This is know as electron stopping. These types of atomic collisions and electron stopping cannot be directly observed by experiments, because of the very small length and time scales involved. Therefore, we rely on computer simulations to help us understand them. The purpose of this collaboration between Queen's University and the University of Tartu (Estonia) is to develop a state-of-the-art electron stopping model for zirconium, which is widely used as a structural material in Canadian nuclear reactors. Using this improved electron stopping models, we will be able to more accurately predict and quantify radiation-induced damage as it occurs during nuclear power production in Canada.