On the theory of nuclear fission

Starting from two-body interactions and imposing the restrictions implied by the exclusion principle on the four- and two-body nucleon correlations a potential energy function is deduced. It consists of two parts - the short-range microscopic and the long-range collective one. The excess neutrons (N-Z) show correlations related to the interaction between the intrinsic (R-vectori) and the collective (R-vectorc) degrees of freedom of the system. By assuming a particular form of this interaction and writing the wave function of the nucleus at the scissioning point as a bilinear rotationally invariant combination of intrinsic and collective wave functions separated equations are obtained. As a preliminary application the second Strutinsky minimum has been represented by the Morse potential. Rotational states are more easily populated than vibrational ones leading to the reported multipolarity of gamma emission. The calculated mass distributions show binding-energy structure and agree qualitatively with the experimental data