Static Fission-Barrier Calculations of a Two-Parameter Liquid Drop

Calculations based on a two-parameter description of a uniformly charged liquid drop are reported. Results include fission-barrier energy and other saddle-point properties. The electrostatic energy of the drop was computed by a novel and highly accurate method. The saddle-point properties and corresponding drop shapes are compared with calculations that use nine parameters. Agreement is best for fissionability parameters greater than 0.70, suggesting that these calculations may provide a few-parameter basis for dynamical calculations of adequate precision at the larger fissionability parameters.