Level densities of heavy nuclei in the shell model Monte Carlo approach

Nuclear level densities are necessary input to the Hauser-Feshbach theory of compound nuclear reactions. However, the microscopic calculation of level densities in the presence of correlations is a challenging many-body problem. The configurationinteraction shell model provides a suitable framework for the inclusion of correlations and shell effects, but the large dimensionality of the many-particle model space has limited its application in heavy nuclei. The shell model Monte Carlo method enables calculations in spaces that are many orders of magnitude larger than spaces that can be treated by conventional diagonalization methods and has proven to be a powerful tool in the microscopic calculation of level densities. We discuss recent applications of the method in heavy nuclei.