Andreas Kyprianou, University of Bath

Title:The mathematics of neutron transport

Abstract: We discuss the evolving mathematical view of the Neutron Transport Equation (NTE), which describes the flux of neutrons through inhomogeneous fissile materials. Neutron transport theory emerges in the rigorous mathematical literature in the mid-1950s. Its treatment as an integro-differential equation eventually settled in the applied mathematics literature through the theory of c_0-semigroup theory, thanks to the work of Robert Dautray, Louis Lions and collaborators. This paved the way for its spectral analysis which has played an important role in the design of nuclear reactors and nuclear medical equipment. We also look at the natural probabilistic approach to the NTE which has largely been left behind. Connections with methods of branching particle systems, quasi-stationarity for Markov processes and stochastic analysis all lead new ways of characterising solutions and spectral behaviour the NTE. In particular this, in turn, leads to the suggestion of completely new Monte-Carlo algorithms, which has genuine industrial impact.