Possible ternary fission of super-heavy nuclei

In super-heavy nuclei, we may expect to discover new phenomena because of the strong Coulomb force. One example is the true ternary fission. We study the sequential two binary fission of 300120 and 252Cf that produces three fragments. We use the Metropolis method to estimate the probability of the second fission. The probability of the second fission is 10−4-10−3 for superheavy nuclei while it is 10−7−10−6 for heavy actinide nuclei. The most probable mass division is almost symmetric in the case of 300120. We also demonstrate the applicability of the Metropolis method to a non-equilibrium process by comparing it with the Langevin equation.

Probing the fission properties of neutron-rich actinides with the astrophysical r process

We review recent work examining the influence of fission in rapid neutron capture (r-process) nucleosynthesis which can take place in astrophysical environments. We briefly discuss the impact of uncertain fission barriers and fission rates on the population of heavy actinide species. We demonstrate the influence of the fission fragment distributions for neutron-rich nuclei and discuss currently available treatments, including recent macroscopic-microscopic calculations. We conclude by comparing our nucleosynthesis results directly with stellar data for metal-poor stars rich in r-process elements to consider whether fission plays a role in the so-called ‘universality’ of r-process abundances observed from star to star.

Ab initio calculations of heavy-actinide hexahalide compounds: do these heavy actinides behave like their isoelectronic lanthanide analogues?

Do heavy actinides behave like their isoelectronic lanthanide analogues?

Static and Dynamical Properties of heavy actinide Monopnictides of Lutetium

In this work, density functional theory within the framework of generalized gradient approximation has been used to investigate the structural, elastic, mechanical, and phonon properties of lutetium monopnictides in rock-salt crystal structure. The spin orbit coupling and Hubbard-U corrections are included to correctly predict the essential properties of these compounds. The elastic constants, Young’s modulus E, Poisson’s ratio v, shear modulus G, anisotropy factor A and Pugh’s ratio are computed. We found that all lutetium monopnictides are anisotropic and show brittle character. From the wave velocities along [100], [110] and [111] directions, melting temperature of lutetium monopnictides are predicted. Dynamical stability of these monopnictides has been studied by density functional perturbation theory.