The yields of light elements ($Z=1,2$) obtained from spontaneous ternary fission of $^{252}$Cf are treated within a nonequilibrium approach, and the contribution of unstable nuclei and excited bound states is taken into account. These light cluster yields may be used to probe dense matter, and to infer in-medium corrections. Continuum correlations are calculated from scattering phase shifts using the Beth-Uhlenbeck formula, and the effect of medium modification is estimated. The relevant distribution is reconstructed from the measured yields of isotopes. This describes the state of the nucleon system at scission and cluster formation, using only three Lagrange parameters which are the nonequilibrium counterparts of the temperature and chemical potentials, as defined in thermodynamic equilibrium. We concluded that a simple nuclear statistical equilibrium model neglecting continuum correlations and medium effects is not able to describe the measured distribution of H and He isotopes. Moreover, the freeze-out concept may serve as an important ingredient to the nonequilibrium approach using the relevant statistical operator concept.
Ternary fission probabilities for thermal neutron induced fission of plutonium are analyzed within the framework of an evaporation-based model where the complexity of time-varying potentials, associated with the neck collapse, are included in a simplistic fashion. If the nuclear temperature at scission and the fission-neck-collapse time are assumed to be ~1.2 MeV and ~10^-22 s, respectively, then calculated relative probabilities of ternary-fission light-charged-particle emission follow the trends seen in the experimental data. The ability of this model to reproduce ternary fission probabiliti…
True ternary fission and Tin-accompanied ternary fission of $^{242}$Pu are studied by using Three Cluster Model. True ternary fission is considered as formation of heavy fragments in the region $28\leq Z_1,Z_2,Z_3\leq 38$, with comparable masses. The possible fission channels are predicted from potential-energy calculations. Interaction potentials, Q-values and relative yields for all possible fragmentations in equatorial and collinear configurations are calculated and compared to each other. It is found out that ternary fission with formation of a double magic nucleus like $^{132}Sn$ is more …
The cold ternary fission of $^{238}$Pu, $^{240}$Pu, $^{242}$Pu and $^{244}$Pu isotopes, with $^{4}$He as light charged particle, in equatorial and collinear configuration has been studied within the Unified ternary fission model (UTFM). The fragment combination $^{100}$Zr+$^{4}$He+$^{134}$Te possessing the near doubly magic nuclei $^{134}$Te (N=82, Z=52) gives the highest yield in the alpha accompanied ternary fission of $^{238}$Pu. For the alpha accompanied ternary fission of $^{240}$Pu, $^{242}$Pu and $^{244}$Pu isotopes, the highest yield was found for the fragment combination with doubly m…
To describe of dynamics of ternary fission of $^{252}$Cf an equation of motion of the tri-nuclear system is calculated. The fission of the $^{70}$Ni+$^{50}$Ca+$^{132}$Sn channel was chosen as one of the more probable channels of true ternary fission of $^{252}$Cf. The collinearity of ternary fission has been checked by analyzing results of the equation of motion. The results show that if initially all nuclei are placed collinearly (potential energy of this position is the smallest) and the component of the middle fragment's initial velocity which is perpendicular to this line, is zero then ter…
T-odd angular correlations in ternary fission of 233-U and 235-U nuclei by slow polarized neutrons are not related to TRI (time reversal invariance) violation, but are caused by an effective spin-orbit interaction in the final state.
Detailed assessments of the ability of recent theoretical approaches to modeling existing experimental data for ternary fission confirm earlier indications that the dominant mode of cluster formation in ternary fission is clusterization in very neutron rich, very low density, essentially chemically equilibrated, nucleonic matter. An extended study and comparison of these approaches applied to ternary fission yields in the thermal neutron induced reaction $^{241}$Pu($n_{\rm th}$,f) has been undertaken to refine the characterization of the source matter. The resonance gas approximation has been …
Experimental data on angular distributions of gamma rays emitted from binary and ternary spontaneous fission of $^{252}{\rm Cf}$ are analyzed. Their difference indicates that the alignment of fragments is higher in ternary fission than in binary one. The consequences of possible relation between the mechanism of ternary fission and the excitation of collective modes during the saddle-to-scission stage are discussed.
A static scission configuration in cold ternary fission has been considered in the framework of two mean field approaches. The virial theorems has been suggested to investigate correlations in the phase space, starting from a kinetic equation. The inverse mean field method is applied to solve single-particle Schredinger equation, instead of constrained selfconsistent Hartree-Fock equations. It is shown, that it is possible to simulate one-dimensional three-center system via inverse scattering method in the approximation of reflectless single-particle potentials
We found that a true ternary fission with formation of a heavy third fragment (a new type of radioactivity) is quite possible for superheavy nuclei due to the strong shell effects leading to a three-body clusterization with the two doubly magic tin-like cores. The simplest way to discover this phenomenon in the decay of excited superheavy nuclei is a detection of two tin-like clusters with appropriate kinematics in low-energy collisions of medium mass nuclei with actinide targets. The three-body quasi-fission process could be even more pronounced for giant nuclear systems formed in collisions …
We compute the final kinetic energies of the fragments emitted in the light charged particle accompanied cold fission of $^{252}$Cf taking into account the ground state quadrupole deformation and the finite-size effects of the fragments and integrating the equations of motion for a three-body system subjected only to Coulomb forces. The initial conditions for the trajectory calculations were derived in the frame of a deformed cluster model which includes also the effect due to the absorbative nuclear part. Although the distributions of initial kinetic energies is rather broad we show that in c…
The existence of a new type of cluster decay called "collinear cluster tri-partition" (CCT) is discussed by an analysis of the landscape of the potential energy surface (PES). The total energy of the ternary system is found as a sum the binding energies of fragments and nucleus-nucleus interaction between them. The pre-scission state of the ternary system is assumed to be arranged as a chain of the three fragments along a straight line. Minima and valleys of the PES are determined by variation of the proton and neutron distributions between them. Pre-scission prompt emission of neutrons is ass…
A model for ternary fission is discussed in which a third particle (alpha-particle) is emitted due to non-adiabatic change of the nuclear potential at neck rapture. An expression for energy and angular distribution of alpha-particles is proposed. It is shown that an interaction between spin of fissioning system and orbital momentum of alpha-particle (spin-orbit interaction in the final state) results in recently observed asymmetry of alpha-particle emission, which can be formally related to T-odd correlation. No strong dependence of the asymmetry on the angle of alpha-particle emission with re…
The concept of collinear spontaneous true ternary fission of 252Cf is subject to critical analysis. The conclusion is that the collinear flight of the fragments turns out to be a natural and most probable mode. The collinearity arises in the model on the prescission stage as a result of the account of the principles of the collective Bohr's model. It is partly destroyed at the post-scission stage of spreading of the fragments due to their Coulomb interaction, with the allowance for the spin effects arising at the moment of scission. The final angular distribution of the fragments is calculated…
Based on a recent experimental finding which may suggest the existence of a tri-nuclear molecular structure before the cold ternary fragmentation of $^{252}$Cf takes place, we solved the eigenvalue problem of a certain class of vibrations which are very likely to occur in these molecules. These oscillations are the result of the joined action of rotations of the heavier fragments and the transversal vibrations of the lighter spherical cluster with respect to the fission axis. In the calculation of the interaction between the heavier fragments we took into account higher multipole deformations,…
We consider the collinear ternary fission which is a sequential ternary decay with a very short time between the ruptures of two necks connecting the middle cluster of the ternary nuclear system and outer fragments. In particular, we consider the case where the Coulomb field of the first massive fragment separated during the first step of the fission produces a lower pre-scission barrier in the second step of the residual part of the ternary system. In this case, we obtain a probability of about $10^{-3}$ for the yield of massive clusters such as \nuclide[70]{Ni}, \nuclide[80-82]{Ge}, \nuclide…
A new type of decay corresponding to the neutronless $^{10}$Be-accompanied fragmentation of $^{252}$Cf is studied. We employ a cluster model similar to the model used for the description of cluster radioactivity. No preformation factors were considered. The ternary relative isotopic yields were calculated as the ratio of the penetrability of a given ternary fragmentation over the sum of penetrabilities of all possible ternary neutronless fragmentations. The corresponding barriers between the light and heavy fragment and between the $^{10}$Be cluster and the two heavier fragments were computed …
The alpha accompanied cold ternary fission of even-even 244Cm, 246Cm, 248Cm, 250Cm and 252Cm isotopes have been studied by taking the interacting barrier as the sum of Coulomb and proximity potential with the fragments in equatorial configuration. The favorable fragment combinations are obtained from the cold reaction valley plot and by calculating the relative yield for the charge minimized fragments. In the alpha accompanied ternary fission of 244Cm isotope, the highest yield is found for the fragment combination 110Ru+4He+130Sn, which possess near doubly magic nuclei 130Sn. For the ternary …
Ternary fission of actinides probes the state of the nucleus at scission. Light clusters are produced in space and time very close to the scission point. Within the nonequilibrium statistical operator method, a generalized Gibbs distribution is constructed from the information given by the observed yields of isotopes. Using this relevant statistical operator, yields are calculated taking excited states and continuum correlations into account, in accordance with the virial expansion of the equation of state. Clusters with mass number $A \le 10$ are well described using the nonequilibrium genera…
Recent experimental data indicate that in the ternary cold fission of $^{252}$Cf the energy of the first excited state of the accompanying light cluster $^{10}$Be is decreased by an amount ranging between $\approx$ 6 and 26 keV. A model is proposed to calculate the shift of the vibrational 2$^+_1$ state in $^{10}$Be when its heavy companions are the even-even nuclei $^{146}$Ba and $^{96}$Sr. The stiffness parameters of the $β$-vibrations are calculated within the self-consistent Hartree-Fock method with BCS pairing correlations taken into account, and its change is determined by the interactio…
We developed a three-center phenomenological model,able to explain qualitatively the recently obtained experimental results concerning the quasimolecular stage of a light-particle accompanied fission process. It was derived from the liquid drop model under the assumption that the aligned configuration, with the emitted particle between the light and heavy fragment, is reached by increasing continuously the separation distance, while the radii of the heavy fragment and of the light particle are kept constant. In such a way,a new minimum of a short-lived molecular state appears in the deformatio…
For the first time, we apply the temperature dependent relativistic mean field (TRMF) model to study the ternary fission of heavy nucleus using level density approach. The probability of yields of a particular fragment is obtained by evaluating the convolution integrals which employ the excitation energy and the level density parameter for a given temperature calculated within the TRMF formalism. To illustrate, we have considered the ternary fissions in 252Cf, 242Pu and 236U with fixed third fragment A3 = 48Ca, 20O and 16O respectively. The relative yields are studied for the temperatures T = …
The event-by-event fission model FREYA is extended to spontaneous fission of actinides and a variety of neutron observables are studied for spontaneous fission and fission induced by thermal neutrons with a view towards possible applications for detection of special nuclear materials.
Ternary fission yields in the reaction 241Pu(nth,f) are calculated using a new model which assumes a nucleation-time moderated chemical equilibrium in the low density matter which constitutes the neck region of the scissioning system. The temperature, density, proton fraction and fission time required to fit the experimental data are derived and discussed. A reasonably good fit to the experimental data is obtained. This model provides a natural explanation for the observed yields of heavier isotopes relative to those of the lighter isotopes, the observation of low proton yields relative to 2H …
Bremsstrahlung emission accompanying ternary fission of \isotope[252]{Cf}
Southern Center for Nuclear-Science Theory (SCNT), Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院近代物理研究所南方核科学理论中心）；Wigner Research Centre for Physics（维格纳物理研究中心）；Institute for Nuclear Research, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine（乌克兰国家科学院核物理研究所）；Heavy Ion Science and Technology Key Laboratory, Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院近代物理研究所重离子科学与技术重点实验室）；School of Nuclear Sciences and Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学核科学与技术学院）
The ternary cluster decay of heavy nuclei has been observed in several experiments with binary coincidences between two fragments using detector telescopes (the FOBOS-detectors, JINR, Dubna) placed on the opposite sides from the source of fissioning nuclei. The binary coincidences at a relative angle of 180$^0$ deg. correspond to binary fission or to the decay into three cluster fragments by registration of two nuclei with different masses (e.g.$^{132}$Sn,$^{52-48}$Ca,$^{68-72}$Ni). This marks a new step in the physics of fission-phenomena of heavy nuclei. These experimental results for the co…
Within the Unified ternary fission model (UTFM), the alpha accompanied ternary fission of even-even $^{244-260}$Cf isotopes has been studied by taking the interacting barrier as the sum of Coulomb and proximity potential. For the alpha accompanied ternary fission of 244^Cf isotope, the highest yield is obtained for the fragment combination 108^Ru+4^He+132^Te, which contain near doubly magic nuclei 132^Te (N=80, Z=52). In the case of 246^Cf and 248^Cf isotopes, the highest yield is obtained for the fragment combinations with near doubly magic nuclei 134^Te (N=82, Z=52) as the heavier fragment. …
A simple phenomenological model, based on the Świ{\c a}tecki idea for evaluation of the spontaneous fission half-lives is proposed. The model contains only one adjustable parameter fixed to the data for even-even nuclei and two additional hindrance factors to the life-times, which give the effect of odd particles. A good agreement with the experimental data for all fissioning nuclei is achieved.
The spontaneous fission lifetime of 264Fm has been studied within nuclear density functional theory by minimizing the collective action integral for fission in a two-dimensional quadrupole collective space representing elongation and triaxiality. The collective potential and inertia tensor are obtained self-consistently using the Skyrme energy density functional and density-dependent pairing interaction. The resulting spontaneous fission lifetimes are compared with the static result obtained with the minimum-energy pathway. We show that fission pathways strongly depend on assumptions underlyin…
Spontaneous fission and alpha decay are the main decay modes for superheavy nuclei. The superheavy nuclei which have small alpha decay half-life compared to spontaneous fission half-life will survive fission and can be detected in the laboratory through alpha decay. We have studied the alpha decay half-life and spontaneous half-life of some superheavy elements in the atomic range Z = 100-130. Spontaneous fission half-lives of superheavy nuclei have been calculated using the phenomenological formula and the alpha decay half-lives using Viola-Seaborg-Sobiczewski formula (Sobiczewski et al. 1989)…
We examine the fission barriers, mass parameters and spontaneous fission half lives of fermium isotopes within the framework of macroscopic-microscopic model with a $δ$-pairing interaction. Four different macroscopic models are applied and studied. The results are compared to experimental data and to the corresponding monopole pairing ones. The half lives obtained in the $δ$-pairing model are comparable with experimental data. The state-dependence of pairing has an important effect on the calculated fission half-lives.
In this letter, we outline a methodology to calculate microscopically mass and charge distributions of spontaneous fission yields. We combine the multi-dimensional minimization of collective action for fission with stochastic Langevin dynamics to track the relevant fission paths from the ground-state configuration up to scission. The nuclear potential energy and collective inertia governing the tunneling motion are obtained with nuclear density functional theory in the collective space of shape deformations and pairing. We obtain a quantitative agreement with experimental data and find that bo…
We systematically calculate the spontaneous fission half-lives for heavy and superheavy nuclei between U and Fl isotopes. The spontaneous fission process is studied within the semi-empirical WKB approximation. The potential barrier is obtained using a generalized liquid drop model, taking into account the nuclear proximity, the mass asymmetry, the phenomenological pairing correction, and the microscopic shell correction. Macroscopic inertial-mass function has been employed for the calculation of the fission half-life. The results reproduce rather well the experimental data. Relatively long hal…
This is a short review of methods and results of calculations of fission barriers and fission half-lives of even-even superheavy nuclei. An approvable agreement of the following approaches is shown and discussed: The macroscopic-microscopic approach based on the stratagem of the shell correction to the liquid drop model and a vantage point of microscopic energy density functionals of Skyrme and Gogny type selfconsistently calculated within Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov method. Mass parameters are calculated in the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov cranking approximation. A short part of the paper is devoted t…
We investigate microscopically the tunneling dynamics in spontaneous fission of atomic nuclei. To this end, we employ a schematic solvable model with a pairing-plus-quadrupole interaction. The spontaneous decay of a system is simulated by introducing a small imaginary part to the energy of a fission doorway state. We show that the many-body Hamiltonian can be reduced to an effective 2$\times$2 Hamiltonian, from which one can derive a simple approximate formula for the decay width. We particularly investigate the applicability of the adiabatic approximation, which has often been used in the lit…
Spontaneous-fission half-lives of the heaviest even-even nuclei are evaluated and compared with their alpha-decay mode. Calculations of spontaneous-fission half-lives are performed in the dynamical way with potential energy obtained by the macroscopic-microscopic method and the inertia tensor obtained by the cranking approximation. The alpha-decay half-lives are calculated for the same region of nuclei by use of the Viola and Seaborg formula. The ground-state properties such as mean square radii and electric quadrupole moments are also studied. From the analysis of spontaneous-fission half-lif…
Recent microscopic studies, based on the theoretical framework of nuclear energy density functionals, have analyzed dynamic (least action) and static (minimum energy) fission paths, and it has been shown that in addition to the important role played by nonaxial and/or octupole collective degrees of freedom, fission paths crucially depend on the approximations adopted in calculating the collective inertia. The dynamics of spontaneous fission of $^{264}$Fm and $^{250}$Fm is explored. The fission paths, action integrals and the corresponding half-lives predicted by the functionals PC-PK1 and DD-P…
It is shown, that the Gamow-like model with only one adjustable parameter - radius constant is able to reproduce well the alpha-decay half-lives for all even-even nuclei with the proton number larger than 50. The systematics for odd-A and odd-odd isotopes can be also well described when ones introduces an additional hindrance factor. Similar model based on the W. J. Swiatecki idea from 1955 is developed to reproduce the spontaneous fission half-lives of transactinide nuclei. The achieved accuracy of reproduction of the data is better than that obtained in more advanced theories.
Collective inertia is strongly influenced at the level crossing at which quantum system changes diabatically its microscopic configuration. Pairing correlations tend to make the large-amplitude nuclear collective motion more adiabatic by reducing the effect of those configuration changes. Competition between pairing and level crossing is thus expected to have a profound impact on spontaneous fission lifetimes. To elucidate the role of nucleonic pairing on spontaneous fission, we study the dynamic fission trajectories of $^{264}$Fm and $^{240}$Pu using the state-of-the-art self-consistent frame…
Using the idea of the instanton approach to quantum tunneling we try to obtain a method of calculating spontaneous fission rates for nuclei with the odd number of neutrons or protons. This problem has its origin in the failure of the adiabatic cranking approximation which serves as the basis in calculations of fission probabilities. Selfconsistent instanton equations, with and without pairing, are reviewed and then simplified to non-selfconsistent versions with phenomenological single-particle potential and seniority pairing interaction. Solutions of instanton-like equations without pairing an…
We study the role of different collective degrees of freedom in spontaneous fission process of even--even Fm isotopes. To find a proper collective space we examine a reach collection of nuclear shape parameters $\{β_λ\}$, with $λ$=2,3,4,5,6 and 8; as well as the paring degrees of freedom i.e. proton $Δ_{p}$ and neutron $Δ_{n}$ pairing gaps. On the basis of the multidimensional dynamic--programming method (MDPM) the optimal collective space $\{β_{2}, β_{4}, β_{6}, Δ_{p}, Δ_{n}\}$ for Fm isotopes was found.
Fortran subroutines have been written to simulate the production of fission neutrons from the spontaneous fission of 252Cf and 240Pu, and from the thermal neutron induced fission of 239Pu and 235U. The names of these four subroutines are getnv252, getnv240, getnv239, and getnv235, respectively. These subroutines reproduce measured first, second, and third moments of the neutron multiplicity distributions, measured neutron-fission correlation data for the spontaneous fission of 252Cf, and measured neutron-neutron correlation data for both the spontaneous fission of 252Cf and the thermal neutron…
Studies of fission dynamics, based on nuclear energy density functionals, have shown that the coupling between shape and pairing degrees of freedom has a pronounced effect on the nonperturbative collective inertia and, therefore, on dynamic (least-action) spontaneous fission paths and half-lives. Collective potentials and nonperturbative cranking collective inertia tensors are calculated using the multidimensionally-constrained relativistic mean-field (MDC-RMF) model. Pairing correlations are treated in the BCS approximation using a separable pairing force of finite range. Pairing fluctuations…
In this paper the essential theoretical predictions for the nuclear muonic radioactivity are presented by using a special fission-like model similar with that used in description of the pionic emission during fission. Hence, a fission-like model for the muonic radioactivity takes into account the essential degree of freedom of the system: muon-fissility, muon-fission barrier height, etc. Using this model it was shown that most of the SHE-nuclei lie in the region where the muonic fissility parameters attain their limiting value X=1. Hence, the SHE-region is characterized by the absence of a cla…
The systematic of the spontaneous fission half-lives for the nuclei $^{242-262}$Fm and $^{250-260}$No is analyzed, within a least action scheme, with the parametrization D1M of the Gogny energy density functional. The properties of the dynamic (least action) fission paths are analyzed and compared to those of the static (minimal energy) ones. The constrained Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov approximation is used to compute deformed mean-field configurations, zero-point quantum corrections and collective inertias. It is shown that a cumbersome full variational search of the least action fission path, wi…
Our understanding of nuclear fission, a fundamental nuclear decay, is still incomplete due to the complexity of the process. In this paper, we describe a study of spontaneous fission using the symmetry-unrestricted nuclear density functional theory. Our results show that the observed bimodal fission can be explained in terms of pathways in multidimensional collective space corresponding to different geometries of fission products. We also predict a new phenomenon of trimodal spontaneous fission for some rutherfordium, seaborgium, and hassium isotopes.
We investigate the dynamics of spontaneous fission in a configuration-interaction (CI) approach. In that formalism the decay rate is governed by an effective interaction coupling the ground-state configuration and a fission doorway configuration, with the interaction strength determined by inverting a high-dimensioned CI Hamiltonian matrix that may have a block-tridiagonal structure. It is shown that the decay rate decreases exponentially with the number of blocks at a rate determined by the largest eigenvalue of a matrix in the block space for Hamiltonians with identical off-diagonal blocks. …
Background: The complete event fission simulation code FREYA is used to study correlations in fission. To make the best possible simulations, FREYA one must find the optimized values of the five physics-based parameters which characterize the events produced by FREYA. So far this has been done only empirically or by brute force computational techniques. Purpose: We seek to develop a method of parameter optimization for FREYA that would include uncertainty quantification and an analysis of the correlations between the parameters. Methods: We focus on spontaneous fission as a simpler test case o…
The physics and the technical algorithms of the statistical de-excitation code ABLA07 are documented. The new developments of ABLA07 have been guided by the empirical knowledge obtained in a recent experimental campaign on the nuclide distributions measured at GSI, Darmstadt. Besides distinct signatures of very asymmetric binary splits, lighter systems show clear features of multifragmentation, while heavy systems reveal the influence of dynamics and microscopic structure on the fission process. ABLA07 includes elaborate but efficient descriptions of all these processes, with one set of the mo…
