Isotope-Resolved Ba and Xe Yields in Actinide Fission and Correlated Heavy--Light Fragment Systematics

TL;DR

This study models isotope-resolved fission yields of Ba and Xe in actinides using a 4D Langevin approach, benchmarking against data and analyzing heavy-light fragment correlations to improve understanding of fission fragment distributions.

Contribution

It introduces a 4D Langevin framework with Fourier-over-Spheroid parametrization for detailed isotope-resolved yield calculations in actinide fission, benchmarking against experimental data.

Findings

Reproduces dominant neutron-number maxima in isotopic chains.

Mean charge and neutron content are described consistently.

Yields are narrower than evaluated data, especially for heavy fragments.

Abstract

Isotope-resolved post-neutron fission yields in the Ba and Xe chains are calculated and benchmarked against evaluated reference data, with emphasis on element-resolved isotopic chains $Y(N_f)$ at fixed fragment charge $Z$ and on the consistency of heavy--light fragment correlations. Calculations are performed within a four-dimensional (4D) Langevin framework employing Fourier-over-Spheroid shape parametrization. The benchmark covers spontaneous fission of selected Cm and Cf isotopes (including $^{244,246}$Cm and $^{250}$Cf) as well as neutron-induced fission at thermal and 14-MeV energies for representative actinides in the Th--Pu region (including $^{229}$Th, $^{235}$U, $^{239}$Pu, and $^{249}$Cf). The dominant neutron-number maxima are reproduced for a large fraction of the isotopic chains considered, indicating that the mean charge partition and the average neutron content of the main fission channels are described consistently. A systematic residual discrepancy is observed in the isotopic widths: the calculated yields often fall off too rapidly on the distribution tails, producing distributions that are narrower than the evaluated data, most notably for heavy-fragment chains.