BARRIER code: Calculation of fission barriers Original Research Article

Average values of various nuclear properties are only explained on average by the liquid drop model ( where the average might be taken over particle number or, alternatively, over deformation). To reproduce other aspects of nuclear structure, such as ground state spins and energy spectra, it was found elsewhere that a different description is necessary. In this regard, we calculated single particle energies as function of the deformation parameters of an axially deformed Woods-Saxon potential, as input to the shell correction calculations. To obtain the total nuclear energy, it is also necessary to add a pairing energy in order to take into consideration the short range nuclear interactions, which are not taken into account in the mean field approximation. Many works found in the literature deal with potential energy surface and calculated mass by using the Strutinsky method. Bjornholm and Lynn pointed out the impact caused by an adequate description of parametrization in each calculation. In particular, many details in the description of fission processes like fission isomers and angular distribution are sensitive to the choice of the parametrization. Some previous works pointed out the advantages of Cassini ovaloid parametrization for very deformed shape calculations. The numerical code BARRIER, proposed and used in this work, calculates the potential energy surface in the Strutinsky semi-microscopical approach using the Cassini ovaloid shape parametrization for the nuclear potential.