Dissociation, fragmentation and fission of simple metal clusters

This pedagogical review presents the Shell Correction Method (SCM) and variants thereof, appropriate for describing shape deformations and electronic shell effects, energetics and decay pathways of metal-cluster fragmentation processes (e.g., monomer/dimer dissociation and fission). The experimental trends are compared to the theoretical SCM interpretations, and in addition theoretical results for fission from first-principles molecular-dynamics simulations are discussed. Some latest insights concerning the importance of electronic-entropy and finite-temperature effects are given special attention.