Hopf bifurcation in rapidly rotating nuclei

Bifurcation to triaxial shapes is investigated as a function of the nuclear fissility, angular momentum, and circulation. The Kelvin circulation determines the character of the rotation in the continuum from rigid body rotation to irrotational droplet flow. The bifurcation point for a given fissility depends sensitively upon the ratio of the circulation to the angular momentum, and, hence, its identification is an experimental signature of rotational dynamics. Hopf bifurcation to stable periodic orbits is investigated. The potential for a rapidly rotating nucleus is modeled in this study by the sum of repulsive Coulomb and attractive surface energies