Ternary Fission

We present the ternary fission of Cf-252 and U-236 within a three-cluster model as well as in a level density approach. The competition between collinear and equatorial geometry is studied by calculating the ternary fragmentation potential as a function of the angle between the lines joining the stationary middle fragment and the two end fragments. The obtained results for the O-16 accompanying ternary fission indicate that collinear configuration is preferred to equatorial configuration. Further, for all the possible third fragments, the potential energy surface (PES) is calculated corresponding to an arrangement in which the heaviest and the lightest fragments are considered at the end in a collinear configuration. The PES reveals several possible ternary modes including true ternary modes where the three fragments are of similar size. The complete mass distributions of Si and Ca which accompanied ternary fission of U-236 is studied within a level density picture. The obtained results favour several possible ternary combinations.