SPONTANEOUS-FISSION HALF-LIVES OF DEFORMED SUPERHEAVY NUCLEI

Spontaneous-fission half-lives:of the heaviest nuclei are analyzed in a multidimensional deformation space. They are calculated in a dynamic al approach, without any adjustable parameters. The potential energy i s obtained by the macroscopic-microscopic method and the inertia tense r by the cranking method. The action integral is minimized by a variat ional procedure. Even-even nuclei with proton number Z=104-114 and neu tron number N=142-176 are considered. The results reproduce existing e xperimental data rather well. Relatively long half-lives are predicted for many unknown nuclei, sufficient to detect them if synthesized in a laboratory.