Cold binary fragmentation of even–even 238–248Pu isotopes

Abstract

Within the framework of Coulomb and proximity potential model, we studied the cold binary fission of even–even 238–248Pu isotopes using the two versions of nuclear proximity potential, Proximity 1977 and Proximity 2000. The most favorable binary fission path is the one that has a high Q value and a minimum driving potential with respect to the mass and charge asymmetries. A nucleus with doubly closed shell or near doubly closed shell always appears as the heaviest nucleus in the favored channel of the binary fission of all the mentioned isotopes. For 238Pu isotope, the highest yield was predicted for the isotope of Pb (Z = 82) as one fragment, whereas for 240,242Pu isotopes, fragments with isotope of Hg (Z = 80) as one fragment possesses the highest yield. In the case of 244,246,248Pu isotopes, the highest yield is for the fragments with Sn (Z = 50) as one fragment. It was found that asymmetric splitting is superior for Pu isotopes with mass number A ≤ 242 and symmetric splitting is superior for Pu isotopes with A ≥ 244. We computed relative yields for the cold binary fission of even–even 238–248Pu isotopes using two different proximity potentials. These results were compared with the available experimental data collected from the double energy method by Wagemans et al. (Nucl Phys A 502:287c, 1989). The two results were found to be in agreement with each other.