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N. Carjan

Publications and source records attributed to N. Carjan.

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Fission Modes and Fragment Shell Structures in $^{258}$Md$^*$ from Six-Dimensional Langevin Calculations

The fission of $^{258}$Md$^*$ is calculated in the excitation energy range of $E^*=6$--36 MeV using a six-dimensional Langevin equation. The calculated events are classified into two symmetric and two asymmetric fission modes based on the fragment mass and the quadrupole deformations of the two fragments at scission. The symmetric modes are separated by their total kinetic energies into the short (high TKE) and superlong (low TKE) modes, whereas the asymmetric modes differ in mass asymmetry. With increasing excitation energy, the yield of the short mode decreases, whereas the combined yield of the two asymmetric modes increases, as observed in the in-beam prompt-fission study of $^{258}$Md$^*$. From an analysis of the fragment shapes and associated single-particle levels, the short mode and the dominant asymmetric mode with the smaller mass asymmetry are found to involve a compact fragment characterized by deformed shell gaps at $Z=52$ and $N=84$, while the complementary fragments have different quadrupole deformations in the two modes.

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Classification of fission modes in $^{236}$U using a six-dimensional Langevin approach

Thermal neutron-induced fission of $^{235}$U is studied using a six-dimensional Langevin approach based on the Cassini shape parametrization. Scission events are classified into Asymmetric 1 (AS1), Asymmetric 2 (AS2), and Superlong (SL) fission modes by applying the $k$-means algorithm to the fragment mass and the quadrupole deformations of both fragments. For each mode, proton and neutron single-particle levels are calculated for representative fragments to examine their shell structures. The AS1 heavy fragment exhibits proton gaps at $Z=50$ and 52 and neutron gaps at $N=82$ and 84, whereas well-developed gaps appear at $Z=56$ and $N=88$ in the AS2 heavy fragment. The mass splits of AS1 and AS2 are close to those of the conventional Standard I and Standard II modes, respectively. However, the average total kinetic energy is lower for AS1 than for AS2, opposite to the conventional ordering of Standard I and Standard II. This reversal reflects the more elongated shape of the AS1 light fragment. The SL mode is conventionally interpreted in terms of macroscopic liquid-drop effects, whereas the pronounced proton shell gap at $Z=46$ suggests that proton shell effects also contribute to the elongated symmetric configuration. The classification based on fragment mass and the quadrupole deformations of both fragments provides a basis for distinguishing fission modes and examining the corresponding fragment shell structures at scission.

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Dumbbell shapes in the super-asymmetric fission of heavy nuclei

We have calculated the fission fragments' mass distributions for several isotopes of heavy and super-heavy nuclei from uranium to flerovium within an improved scission point model. For all considered nuclei, in addition to the standard mass-asymmetric fission mode we have found the mass super-asymmetric mode with the mass of heavy fragments equal 190. For the actinide nuclei, the probability of super-asymmetric fission is by 6 orders of magnitude smaller than for standard asymmetric fission. For the superheavy nuclei this probability is only by 2 orders of magnitude smaller. In all cases, the super-asymmetric scission shapes are dumbbells with the heavy fragment close to a sphere. We have estimated the stability of the light fragment concerning the variation of the neck and found out that sequential ternary fission is not favored energetically. The calculations were carried out with nuclear shape described by generalized Cassinian ovals with 6 deformation parameters, $\alpha, \alpha_1, \alpha_2, \alpha_3, \alpha_4$ and $\alpha_5$. The configuration at the moment of the neck rupture was defined by fixing $\alpha=0.98$. This value corresponds to a neck radius $r_{neck}\approx$ 1.5 fm.

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Fission of super-heavy nuclei: Fragment mass distributions and their dependence on excitation energy

The mass and total kinetic energy distributions of the fission fragments in the fission of even-even isotopes of superheavy elements from Hs (Z=108) to Og (Z=118) are estimated using a pre-scission point model. We restrict to nuclei for which spontaneous fission has been experimentally observed. The potential energy surfaces are calculated with Strutinsky's shell correction procedure. The parametrization of the nuclear shapes is based on Cassini ovals. For the just before scission configuration we fix $α$=0.98, what corresponds to $r_{neck}\approx 2$ fm, and take into account another four deformation parameters: $α_1,α_3,α_4,α_6$. The fragment-mass distributions are estimated supposing they are due to thermal fluctuations in the mass asymmetry degree of freedom just before scission. The influence of the excitation energy of the fissioning system on these distributions is studied. The distributions of the total kinetic energy (TKE) of the fragments are also calculated (in the point-charge approximation). In Hs, Ds and Cn isotopes a transition from symmetric to asymmetric fission is predicted with increasing neutron number N (at N$\approx$168). Super-symmetric fission ocurs at N$\approx$160. When the excitation energy increases from 0 to 30 MeV, the peaks (one or two) of the mass distributions become only slightly wider. The first two moments of the TKE distributions are displayed as a function of the mass number A of the fissioning nucleus. A slow decrease of the average energy and a minimum of the width (at N$\approx$162) is found.

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Structures in the energy distribution of the scission neutrons: finite neutron-number effect

The scission neutron kinetic energy spectrum is calculated for $^{236}U$ in the frame of the dynamical scission model. The bi-dimensional time dependent Schrödinger equation with time dependent potential is used to propagate each neutron wave function during the scission process which is supposed to last $1\times 10^{-22}$ sec. At the end, we separate the unbound parts and continue to propagate them as long as possible (in this case $50\times 10^{-22}$ sec) in the frozen fragments approximation. At several time intervals, the Fourier transforms of these wave packets are calculated in order to obtain the corresponding momentum distributions which lead to the kinetic energy distributions. The evolution of these distributions in time provides an interesting insight into the separation of each neutron from the fissioning system and asymptotically gives the kinetic energy spectrum of that particular neutron. We group the results in substates with given projection $Ω$ of the angular momentum on the fission axis to study its influence on the spectrum. Finally, the sum over all $Ω$ values is compared with a typical evaporation spectrum as well as with recent precise measurements in the reaction $^{235}U(n_{th},f)$. Structures are present both in the scission-neutron spectrum and in the data.

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Emission of Scission Neutrons in the Sudden Approximation

At a certain finite neck radius during the descent of a fissioning nucleus from the saddle to the scission point, the attractive nuclear forces can no more withstand the repulsive Coulomb forces producing the neck rupture and the sudden absorption of the neck stubs by the fragments. At that moment, the neutrons, although still characterized by their pre-scission wave functions, find themselves in the newly created potential of their interaction with the separated fragments. Their wave functions become wave packets with components in the continuum. The probability to populate such states gives evidently the emission probability of neutrons at scission. In this way, we have studied scission neutrons for the fissioning nucleus $^{236}$U, using two-dimensional realistic nuclear shapes. Both the emission probability and the distribution of the emission points relative to the fission fragments strongly depend on the quantum numbers of the pre-scission state from which the neutron is emitted. In particular it was found that states with $Ωπ$ = 1/2+ dominate the emission. Depending on the assumed pre- and post-scission configurations and on the emission-barrier height, 30 to 50% of the total scission neutrons are emitted from 1/2+ states. Their emission points are concentrated in the region between the newly separated fragments. The upper limit for the total number of neutrons per scission event is predicted to lie between 0.16 and 1.73 (depending on the computational assumptions).

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Alpha-decay lifetimes semiempirical relationship including shell effects

A new version of the semiempirical formula based on fission approach of alpha decay is derived, by using the optimum values of the fitting parameters determined for even-even nuclei, combined with hindrance factors for even-odd, odd-even, and odd-odd nuclides. The deviations from experimental data for two regions of nuclear chart (493 alpha emitters with Z=52-118 and 142 transuranium nuclei including superheavies (Z=92-118), respectively) are compared with those obtained by using the universal curve and the Viola-Seaborg semiempirical relationship.

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Time-dependent properties of proton decay from crossing single-particle metastable states in deformed nuclei

A dynamical study of the decay of a metastable state by quantum tunneling through an anisotropic, non separable, two-dimensional potential barrier is performed by the numerical solution of the time-dependent Schrodinger equation. Initial quasi- stationary proton states are chosen in the framework of a deformed Woods-Saxon single-particle model. The decay of two sets of states corresponding to true and quasi levels-crossing is studied and the evolution of their decay properties as a function of nuclear deformation is calculated around the crossing point. The results show that the investigation of the proton decay from metastable states in deformed nuclei can unambiguously distinguish between the two types of crossing and determine the structure of the nuclear states involved.

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Proton Decay from Excited States in Spherical Nuclei

Based on a single particle model which describes the time evolution of the wave function during tunneling across a one dimensional potential barrier we study the proton decay of $^{208}$Pb from excited states with non-vanishing angular momentum $\ell$. Several quantities of interest in this process like the decay rate $λ$, the period of oscillation $T_{osc}$, the transient time $t_{tr}$, the tunneling time $t_{tun}$ and the average value of the proton packet position $ r_{av} $ are computed and compared with the WKB results.

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