Metastable hot nuclei in a semiclassical description

Starting from a variational equation for the grand canonical potential, the density profiles of metastable hot nuclei are calculated; the boundary conditions correspond to zero external pressure. The solutions are compared to the case of a nucleus embedded in a gas at finite pressure. The evaporation of neutrons from the hot nuclei is investigated; the evaporation lifetimes are smaller in the metastable case, where no external pressure acts on the nucleus. The Coulomb energy is found to play a dominant role; it lowers considerably the maximum temperature up to which solutions exist. The influence of the temperature on the nuclear compressibility is discussed. (orig.)