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Heavy-element fission barriers

Moller, Peter ; Sierk, Arnold J. ; Ichikawa, Takatoshi ; Iwamoto, Akira ; Bengtsson, Ragnar LU ; Uhrenholt, Henrik LU and Åberg, Sven LU (2009) In Physical Review C (Nuclear Physics) 79(6).
Abstract
We present calculations of fission properties for heavy elements. The calculations are based on the macroscopic-microscopic finite-range liquid-drop model with a 2002 parameter set. For each nucleus we have calculated the potential energy in three different shape parametrizations: (1) for 5 009 325 different shapes in a five-dimensional deformation space given by the three-quadratic-surface parametrization, (2) for 10 850 different shapes in a three-dimensional deformation space spanned by epsilon(2), epsilon(4), and gamma in the Nilsson perturbed-spheroid parametrization, supplemented by a densely spaced grid in epsilon(2), epsilon(3), epsilon(4), and epsilon(6) for axially symmetric deformations in the neighborhood of the ground state,... (More)
We present calculations of fission properties for heavy elements. The calculations are based on the macroscopic-microscopic finite-range liquid-drop model with a 2002 parameter set. For each nucleus we have calculated the potential energy in three different shape parametrizations: (1) for 5 009 325 different shapes in a five-dimensional deformation space given by the three-quadratic-surface parametrization, (2) for 10 850 different shapes in a three-dimensional deformation space spanned by epsilon(2), epsilon(4), and gamma in the Nilsson perturbed-spheroid parametrization, supplemented by a densely spaced grid in epsilon(2), epsilon(3), epsilon(4), and epsilon(6) for axially symmetric deformations in the neighborhood of the ground state, and (3) an axially symmetric multipole expansion of the shape of the nuclear surface using beta(2), beta(3), beta(4), and beta(6) for intermediate deformations. For a fissioning system, it is always possible to define uniquely one saddle or fission threshold on the optimum trajectory between the ground state and separated fission fragments. We present such calculated barrier heights for 1585 nuclei from Z=78 to Z=125. Traditionally, actinide barriers have been characterized in terms of a "double-humped" structure. Following this custom we present calculated energies of the first peak, second minimum, and second peak in the barrier for 135 actinide nuclei from Th to Es. However, for some of these nuclei which exhibit a more complex barrier structure, there is no unique way to extract a double-humped structure from the calculations. We give examples of such more complex structures, in particular the structure of the outer barrier region near Th-232 and the occurrence of multiple fission modes. Because our complete results are too extensive to present in a paper of this type, our aim here is limited: (1) to fully present our model and the methods for determining the structure of the potential-energy surface, (2) to present fission thresholds for a large number of heavy elements, (3) to compare our results with the two-humped barrier structure deduced from experiment for actinide nuclei, and (4) to compare to additional fission-related data and other fission models.</p>. (Less)
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author
; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Physical Review C (Nuclear Physics)
volume
79
issue
6
publisher
American Physical Society
external identifiers
  • wos:000267701200015
  • scopus:67249159616
ISSN
0556-2813
DOI
10.1103/PhysRevC.79.064304
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015. The record was previously connected to the following departments: Mathematical Physics (Faculty of Technology) (011040002)
id
9fe9ed7d-2235-4b2e-91e6-903a2bddfc3d (old id 1462351)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 14:34:44
date last changed
2022-04-06 19:23:38
@article{9fe9ed7d-2235-4b2e-91e6-903a2bddfc3d,
  abstract     = {{We present calculations of fission properties for heavy elements. The calculations are based on the macroscopic-microscopic finite-range liquid-drop model with a 2002 parameter set. For each nucleus we have calculated the potential energy in three different shape parametrizations: (1) for 5 009 325 different shapes in a five-dimensional deformation space given by the three-quadratic-surface parametrization, (2) for 10 850 different shapes in a three-dimensional deformation space spanned by epsilon(2), epsilon(4), and gamma in the Nilsson perturbed-spheroid parametrization, supplemented by a densely spaced grid in epsilon(2), epsilon(3), epsilon(4), and epsilon(6) for axially symmetric deformations in the neighborhood of the ground state, and (3) an axially symmetric multipole expansion of the shape of the nuclear surface using beta(2), beta(3), beta(4), and beta(6) for intermediate deformations. For a fissioning system, it is always possible to define uniquely one saddle or fission threshold on the optimum trajectory between the ground state and separated fission fragments. We present such calculated barrier heights for 1585 nuclei from Z=78 to Z=125. Traditionally, actinide barriers have been characterized in terms of a "double-humped" structure. Following this custom we present calculated energies of the first peak, second minimum, and second peak in the barrier for 135 actinide nuclei from Th to Es. However, for some of these nuclei which exhibit a more complex barrier structure, there is no unique way to extract a double-humped structure from the calculations. We give examples of such more complex structures, in particular the structure of the outer barrier region near Th-232 and the occurrence of multiple fission modes. Because our complete results are too extensive to present in a paper of this type, our aim here is limited: (1) to fully present our model and the methods for determining the structure of the potential-energy surface, (2) to present fission thresholds for a large number of heavy elements, (3) to compare our results with the two-humped barrier structure deduced from experiment for actinide nuclei, and (4) to compare to additional fission-related data and other fission models.&lt;/p&gt;.}},
  author       = {{Moller, Peter and Sierk, Arnold J. and Ichikawa, Takatoshi and Iwamoto, Akira and Bengtsson, Ragnar and Uhrenholt, Henrik and Åberg, Sven}},
  issn         = {{0556-2813}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{6}},
  publisher    = {{American Physical Society}},
  series       = {{Physical Review C (Nuclear Physics)}},
  title        = {{Heavy-element fission barriers}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.79.064304}},
  doi          = {{10.1103/PhysRevC.79.064304}},
  volume       = {{79}},
  year         = {{2009}},
}