Takatoshi Ichikawa, Akira Iwamoto, Peter Möller, Arnold J. Sierk
Fission-fragment mass distributions are asymmetric in fission of typical actinide nuclei for nucleon number $A$ in the range $228 \lnsim A \lnsim 258$ and proton number $Z$ in the range $90\lnsim Z \lnsim 100$. For somewhat lighter systems it has been observed that fission mass distributions are usually symmetric. However, a recent experiment showed that fission of $^{180}$Hg following electron capture on $^{180}$Tl is asymmetric. An earlier experiment has shown fission of $^{198}$Hg and nearby nuclei is symmetric, but with hints of asymmetric yield distributions up to about 10 MeV above the saddle-point energy. We calculate potential-energy surfaces for a typical actinide nucleus and for 12 even isotopes in the range $^{178}$Hg--$^{200}$Hg, demonstrating the radical differences between actinide and mercury potential surfaces. We discuss these differences and how the changing potential-energy structure along the mercury isotope chain affects the observed (a)symmetry of the fission fragments. We show that the mechanism of asymmetric fission is very different in proton-rich mercury isotopes compared to the actinide region.
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http://arxiv.org/abs/1203.2011
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