Scission Dynamics with K Partitions

Abstract

We propose a framework to calculate the dynamics at the scission point of nuclear fission, based as far as possible on a discrete representation of orthogonal many-body configurations. Assuming axially symmetric scission shapes, we use the $K$ orbital quantum number to build a basis of wave functions. Pre-scission configurations are stable under mean-field dynamics while post-scission configurations evolve to separated fragments. In this first exploratory study, we analyze a typical fission trajectory through to scission in terms of these configurations. We find that there is a major rearrangement of the $K$ occupancy factors at scission. Interestingly, very different fragment shapes occur in the post-scission configurations, even starting from the same pre-scission configuration.