Abstract
A novel method of estimating fission-barrier heights is presented in this paper, in which potential energy surfaces are calculated by using the spherical-basis method. This method is based on the idea of configuration mixing of various spherical states for deformed nuclei, which gave the ground-state nuclear-mass calculation presented by our group [H. Koura, T. Tachibana, M. Uno, and M. Yamada, Prog. Theor. Phys., 113, 305 (2005)]. Under the restriction of symmetric fission, a systematical fission-barrier calculation is performed in the heavy and superheavy nuclear-mass region, and some higher (neighboring |$^{252}$|Fm, known) and lower (neighboring |$^{278}$|Ds, unknown) fission-barrier regions are found in the nuclear-mass chart; the origin of these appearances is discussed in the framework of the spherical-basis method. The calculated nuclei are also located in the unknown neutron-deficient superheavy nuclear-mass region, where nuclear fission determines a limit on the existence of nuclei. Three regions that have relatively high fission barriers are predicted in neutron-deficient regions having neutron numbers of around 126, 184, and 228.
Highlights
In the region of heavy and superheavy nuclei, various decay modes coexist, such as α-decay, β-decay, and spontaneous fission
For the extended Thomas–Fermi plus Strutinsky integral (ETFSI) [9], which is based on the Strutinsky approach with a two-body interaction as the Skyrme-type effective force, we adopted a β2, β4, and β6 parametrization for the nuclear shape, which is essentially the same parametrization used in this study
We limited the nuclear shape to small deformations so that we could focus on the reasons for the shape of the landscape
Summary
In the region of heavy and superheavy nuclei, various decay modes coexist, such as α-decay, β-decay, and spontaneous fission. Spontaneous fission is a dynamical and drastic decay process in which a nucleus splits into two (sometimes three or more) nuclei. This mechanism is part of the nuclear many-body problem and is rather complicated. Important due to its providing a large amount of atomic energy. Nuclear fission is the main reason for the instability of heavy nuclei due to the Coulomb repulsive force, more than α-decay. Understanding the fission mechanism leads to an understanding of the limit on the existence of nuclei with a high-Z (proton) number
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