EFFECTS DUE TO THE CONTINUUM ON SHELL CORRECTIONS AT FINITE TEMPERATURES

Temperature dependent shell corrections are calculated taking into acc ount the continuum spectrum of a finite depth mean field potential. Th e effect of the continuum is split up into a discret term which includ es Gamow resonances and an integral along a contour in the complex ene rgy plane. The resonances appear in the formalism in the same manner a s bound states and at low temperatures they give the main part of the contribution due to the continuum. The method is applied to the partic ular case of Pb-208. The temperature for which the shell corrections a re washed out completly is estimated at T approximate to 2.5 MeV.