Self-consistent calculations of fission barriers in the Fm region

The fission barriers of the nuclei ${}^{254}\mathrm{Fm},$ ${}^{256}\mathrm{Fm},$ ${}^{258}\mathrm{Fm},$ ${}^{258}\mathrm{No}$, and ${}^{260}\mathrm{Rf}$ are investigated in a fully microscopic way up to the scission point. The analysis is based on the constrained Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov theory and Gogny’s D1S force. The quadrupole, octupole, and hexadecapole moments as well as the number of nucleons in the neck region are used as constraints. Two fission paths, corresponding to the bimodal fission, are found. The decrease with isotope mass of the half-life times of heavy Fm isotopes is also explained.