Longitudinal ternary fission

The longitudinal ternary fission is studied using the generalized liquid drop model. The proximity energy and the charge and mass asymmetries are taken into account. Spherical parent and daughter nuclei are considered. The shape sequence selected to simulate the quasimolecular three-body shapes is built from different but connected elliptic half lemniscatoids. The potential barriers are much lower when the central fragment is the smallest one and particularly when it is an $\alpha$ particle. The $2\alpha$ emission can be described as a particular prolate fission with emission of two particles at the tips of the deformed nucleus. The associated potential barriers are high and thin.