Fission and Nuclear Liquid-Gas Phase Transition

The temperature dependence of the liquid-drop fission barrier is considered, the critical temperature for the liquid-gas phase transition in nuclear matter being a parameter. Experimental and calculated data on the fission probability are compared for highly excited 188 Os. The calculations have been made in the framework of the statistical model. It is concluded that the critical temperature for the nuclear liquid–gas phase transition is higher than 16 MeV.