New fission valley for 258Fm and nuclei beyond

Experimental results on the fission properties of nuclei close to 264Fm show sudden and large changes with a change of only one or two neutrons or protons. The nucleus 258Fm, for instance, undergoes symmetric fission with a half-life of about 0.4 ms and a kinetic energy peaked at about 235 MeV whereas 256Fm undergoes asymmetric fission with a half-life of about 3 h and a kinetic energy peaked at about 200 MeV. Qualitatively, these sudden changes hve been postulated to be due to the emergence of fragment shells in symmetric fission products close to 132Sn. A quantitative calculation that shows where high-kinetic-energy symmetric fission occurs and why it is associated with a sudden and large decrease in fission half-lives. The study is based on calculations of potential-energy surfaces in the macroscopic-microscopic model and a semi-empirical model for the nuclear inertia. The implications of the new fission valley on the stability of the heaviest elements is discussed. 33 refs., 12 figs