Multiple-humped fission and fusion barriers of actinide and superheavy elements

The energy of a deformed nucleus has been determined within a Generalized Liquid Drop Model taking into account the proximity energy, the microscopic corrections and quasi-molecular shapes. In the potential barrier a third peak exists for actinides when one fragment is close to a magic spherical nucleus while the other one varies from oblate to prolate shapes. The barrier heights and half-lives agree with the experimental data. The different entrance channels leading possibly to superheavy elements are studied as well as their α-decay. (author)