Semiclassical Interpretation of the Mass Asymmetry in Nuclear Fission

We give a semiclassical interpretation of the mass asymmetry in the fission of heavy nuclei. Using only a few classical periodic orbits and a cavity model for the nuclear mean field, we reproduce the onset of left-right asymmetric shapes at the fission isomer minimum and the correct topology of the deformation energy surface in the region of the outer fission barrier. We point at the correspondence of the single-particle quantum states responsible for the asymmetry with the leading classical orbits, both lying in similar equatorial planes perpendicular to the symmetry axis of the system.