Deformation energy minima at finite mass asymmetry

¹ National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering RO-077125 Bucharest, Romania
² Institut für Theoretische Physik der J. W. Goethe Universität D-60054 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Received: 16 June 2003
Accepted: 7 August 2003

Abstract

A very general saddle point nuclear shape may be found as a solution of an integro-differential equation without giving a priori any shape parametrization. By introducing phenomenological shell corrections one obtains minima of deformation energy for binary fission of parent nuclei at a finite (nonzero) mass asymmetry. Results are presented for reflection asymmetric saddle point shapes of thorium and uranium even-mass isotopes with A=226–238 and A=230–238, respectively.