Theory of Nuclear Fission

The process of spontaneous or induced fission, by which an atomic nucleus breaks into two or more fragments, presents, more than eight decades after its discovery, a very interesting research topic in the field of low- and medium-energy nuclear physics. From a modern perspective, nuclear fission can be considered a representative example of large-amplitude collective motion in a self-bound mesoscopic system, that exhibits both classical and quantal characteristics. In addition to important technological applications, primarily in energy production, fission is also relevant for the stability of superheavy elements, production of short-lived exotic nuclides far from stability, nuclear astrophysics, and the mechanism of nucleosynthesis.