Neutron-induced fission cross section on actinides using microscopic fission energy surfaces

Abstract. Microscopic Hartree-Fock-Bogolyubov (HFB) calculations are now available and can provide all the nuclear ingredients required to describe the fission path from the equilibrium deformation up to the nuclear scission point. The aim of this paper is to apply the basic features of the optical model for fission, using the full microscopic information obtained from HFB models to calculate neutron-induced fission cross sections on selected actinide nuclei. This approach includes not only the details of the energy surface along the fission path, but also the estimate of the nuclear level density derived within the combinatorial approach on the basis of the same HFB single-particle properties, in particular at the fission saddle points. The sensitivity of the calculated fission transmission coefficients to different model approximations is studied and the predictive power of such a microscopic approach tested.