We present a systematics of fission barriers and fission lifetimes for the whole landscape of superheavy elements (SHE), i.e. nuclei with Z ≥ 100. The fission lifetimes are also compared with the α-decay half-lives. The survey is based on a self-consistent description in terms of the SkyrmeHartree-Fock (SHF) approach. Results for various different SHF parameterizations are compared to explore the robustness of the predictions. The fission path is computed by quadrupole constrained SHF. The computation of fission lifetimes takes care of the crucial ingredients of the large-amplitude collective dynamics along the fission path, as self-consistent collective mass and proper quantum corrections. We discuss the different topologies of fission landscapes which occur in the realm of SHE (symmetric versus asymmetric fission, regions of triaxial fission, bi-modal fission, and the impact of asymmetric ground states). The explored region is extended deep into the regime of very neutron-rich isotopes as they are expected to be produced in the astrophysical r process.

We have computed dipole strength distributions for nickel and tin isotopes within the Relativistic Quasiparticle Time Blocking Approximation (RQTBA). These calculations provide a good description of data, including the neutron-rich tin isotopes (130.132)Sn. The resulting dipole strengths have been implemented in Hauser-Feshbach calculations of astrophysical neutron capture rates relevant for r-process nucleosynthesis studies. The RQTBA calculations show the presence of enhanced dipole strength at energies around the neutron threshold for neutron rich nuclei. The computed neutron capture rates are sensitive to the fine structure of the low lying dipole strength. which emphasizes the importance of a reliable knowledge of this excitation mode. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

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