Microscopic description of cluster radioactivity fission valleys along isotopic and isotonic chains

TL;DR

This paper investigates the microscopic features of cluster radioactivity fission valleys across various isotopic and isotonic chains, revealing their widespread presence and limitations based on nuclear isospin asymmetry.

Contribution

It extends the microscopic analysis of cluster radioactivity fission valleys to a broad range of nuclei, identifying the conditions under which these valleys exist or diminish.

Findings

Cluster fission valleys are present across many nuclei.

Valleys flatten with increasing isospin asymmetry.

Cluster radioactivity is absent in neutron-deficient nuclei with N/Z < 1.41.

Abstract

Cluster radioactivity has been successfully described as a super-asymmetric fission mode within the microscopic self-consistent Gogny Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov approximation [Phys. Rev. C 84, 044608 (2011)]. For nuclei preserving the neutron-to-proton $N/Z$ ratio of the doubly magic $^{208}$Pb, a cluster radioactivity fission valley has been identified. Such a valley can also be found both in actinides and super-heavy nuclei. In this paper, chains of isotopes and isotones are examined to determine the limits of existence of the cluster radioactivity fission mode. It is shown that the super-asymmetric valley can be found in a wide range of the nuclear chart. Nevertheless, the valley flattens more and more when diverging from the isospin asymmetry of $^{208}$Pb. For neutron-deficient nuclei with $N/Z <$ 1.41, it is found that the valley diminishes before reaching the scission point, and cluster radioactivity can not be observed.