This book introduces a quantum-mechanical description of the nuclear fission process from an initial compound state to scission. Issues like the relevant degrees of freedom throughout the process, the way of coupling collective and intrinsic degrees during the fission process, and how a nucleus divides into two separate daughters in a quantum-mechanical description where its wave function can be non-local, are currently being investigated through a variety of theoretical, computational, and experimental techniques.

Walid Younes received his Ph.D. in nuclear physics from Rutgers University in 1996, and is currently a member of the nuclear theory and modeling group at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. In 2006 he launched a program with Daniel Gogny to develop a microscopic theory of fission. Together, they developed a quantum-mechanical description of scission.

Daniel Marc Gogny, born June 20, 1938, passed away on May 25, 2015. In the 1970's he developed a finite-range effective interaction that has since become a standard used throughout the field of nuclear physics. He worked for the Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) of France for 40 years. In 1998 he was appointed by the CEA to be scientific liaison to the French at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and moved to California. Gogny retired from the CEA in 2004 but continued to mentor doctoral students and work with his collaborators such as Walid Younes at LLNL for the next 11 years.

Preface.- Part I: Tools for a Microscopic Theory of the Nucleus.- Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov Theory.- Matrix Elements of the Finite-Range Interaction.- The Generator Coordinate Method.- Part II: Application to Low-Energy Fission.- General Concepts.- Numerical Application to 240Pu Fission.- Summary and Outlook for Future Directions in Fission Theory.- Appendix A.- Appendix B.- Appendix C.- Appendix D.- Appendix E.- Appendix F.- Appendix G.