Fission, cluster emission and hyperdeformation at high angular momentum in the fusion-like deformation valley

Summary

The peculiar exit path leading one nucleus to two tangent spherical fragments before crossing the potential barrier has been investigated assuming neck formation while keeping quasi-spherical ends. The potential energy has been determined within a generalized liquid-drop model including a proximity energy term, the decay asymmetry and an accurate nuclear radius. The barrier top corresponds to separated nascent nuclei maintained in unstable equilibrium by the balance between the repulsive Coulomb forces and the attractive surface tension and proximity forces. The calculated fission barrier characteristics, half-lives of radioactive nuclei emitting heavy clusters, fragment kinetic energies, critical angular momenta of light nuclei and rotating superand hyperdeformed-state properties are in agreement with the available experimental data.