Ternary fission fragmentation of ²⁵²Cf for all possible third fragments

Abstract.

The ternary fragmentation of ²⁵²Cf for all possible third fragments has been investigated using the recently proposed three-cluster model within a spherical approximation and satisfying the condition A ₁ $\geq$ A ₂ $\geq$ A ₃ . The most probable ternary configurations in the fission of ²⁵²Cf accompanied with all possible third fragment mass numbers from A ₃ = 1 to 84 are predicted and their independent and overall relative yields are calculated. The calculations of the properly charge minimized potential energy surface (PES) and yield reveal that even-mass third fragments are more favored than odd ones. In the most probable configuration having the minimum in the potential energy and the maximum in yield, among the three fragments, at least one (or two) of the fragment(s) associates itself with the neutron (or proton) closed shell and in some cases even with the doubly closed shell. The calculated relative yields imply that next to ¹⁴C (the heaviest third fragment observed in the spontaneous ternary fission of ²⁵²Cf , ^{34, 36, 38}Si , ^{46, 48}Ar , and ^{48, 50}Ca are presenting themselves as the most favoured cases to be observed as the third particle in the spontaneous ternary fission of ²⁵²Cf .