Fission modes in the compound nucleus 238Np

Abstract Potential energy calculations in conjunction with the multi-modal random neck-rupture model of Brosa, Grosmann and Muller (BGM-model) indicate the existence of four fission modes in the compound nucleus 238 Np. For the first time the splitting of the standard mode into three submodes could be demonstrated theoretically. The existence of a third standard mode in fission has already been proposed for heavier nuclei, where a nonnegligible yield of more asymmetric fission fragments is experimentally observed. The calculated fission fragment properties for 238 Np are discussed and compared to experimental results.