Metal Cluster Fission

Fission of doubly charged metal clusters is studied using the open-shell two-center deformed jellium Hartree-Fock and local density approximations as well as within ab initio molecular dynamic approach accounting for all electrons in the system. Results of calculations of the fission barriers for the symmetric and asymmetric fission processes Na₁₀²⁺ -> Na_7⁺ + Na_3⁺, Na₁₈²⁺ -> Na₁₅⁺ + Na_3⁺ and Na₁₈²⁺ -> 2Na_9⁺ are presented. The role of exchange and many-electron correlation effects in metal clusters fission is analyzed. It is demonstrated that the influence of many-electron correlations on the height of the fission barrier is more profound if the barrier arises nearby or beyond the scission point. The importance of cluster deformations in the fission process is elucidated with the use of the overlapping-spheroids shape parameterization allowing one an independent variation of deformations in the parent and daughter clusters.