Paper detail

Magic radioactivity of 252Cf

We show that the sharp maximum corresponding to 107Mo in the fragment distribution of the 252Cf cold fission is actually a Sn-like radioactivity, similar to other decay processes in which magic nuclei are involved, namely alpha-decay and heavy cluster emission, also called Pb-like radioactivity. It turns out that the mass asymmetry degree of freedom has a key role in connecting initial Sn with the final Mo isotopes along the fission path. We suppose the cold rearrangement of nucleons within the framework of the two center shell model, in order to compute the cold valleys in the charge equilibrated fragmentation potential. The fission yields are estimated by using the semiclassical penetration approach. We consider five degrees of freedom, namely the inter-fragment distance, the shapes of fragments, the neck parameter and mass asymmetry. We found an isomeric minimum between the internal and external barriers. It turns out that the inner cold valley of the total potential energy is connected to the double magic isotope 132Sn