Eur. Phys. J. D 29, 63-68 (2004)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2004-00006-6

Electrostatic model calculations of fission barriers for fullerene ions

Physics Department, Stockholm University, AlbaNova University Center, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden

Corresponding author: ^a henning@physto.se

Received: 5 November 2003
Revised: 10 December 2003
Published online: 27 January 2004

Abstract

We present model calculations of kinetic energy releases and fission barriers in asymmetric fission of C ions, using a simple electrostatic model where the fragments are treated as conducting spheres. The kinetic energy releases are calculated using two different approaches for deducing the radii of the spheres. Both approaches give results in qualitative agreement with experimental results. The fission barriers, on the other hand, depend strongly on the model radii and the activation energies for neutral fragment emission. A comparison between the model calculations shows that the choice of the finite size of the smaller fragments become important as r increases and have large influences on the prediction for the C stability limit. The competition between neutral (evaporation) and charged-fragment emission (fission) are discussed within a static over-the-barrier model for electron transfer between conducting spheres.