The pre-neutron-emission mass distributions for reaction $^{232}$Th(n, f) up to 60 MeV are systematically studied with an empirical fission potential model. The energy dependences of the peaks and valleys of the pre-neutron-emission mass distribution
s are described by the exponential expressions based on the newly measured data. The energy dependence of evaporation neutrons before scission, which plays a crucial role for the reasonable description of the mass distribution, is also considered. Both the double-humped and triple-humped shape of the measured pre-neutron-emission mass distributions for reaction $^{232}$Th(n, f) are reasonably well reproduced at incident energies up to 60 MeV. The mass distributions at unmeasured energies and the critical energies at which the humped pre-neutron-emission mass distributions are transformed into each other are also predicted.
The pre-neutron-emission mass distributions for reaction $^{238}$U(n, f) up to 60 MeV are systematically studied with an empirical fission potential model. The energy dependence of the peaks and valleys of the pre-neutron-emission mass distributions
is described by an exponential form based on the newly measured data. The energy dependence of evaporation neutrons before scission is also considered, which plays a crucial role for the reasonable description of the mass distributions. The measured data for the pre-neutron-emission mass distributions for reaction $^{238}$U(n, f) are reasonably well reproduced up to 60 MeV. The mass distributions at unmeasured energies are also predicted with this approach.
According to the driving potential of a fissile system, we propose a phenomenological fission potential for a description of the pre-neutron emission mass distributions of neutron-induced actinide fission. Based on the nucleus-nucleus potential with
the Skyrme energy-density functional, the driving potential of the fissile system is studied considering the deformations of nuclei. The energy dependence of the potential parameters is investigated based on the experimental data for the heights of the peak and valley of the mass distributions. The pre-neutron emission mass distributions for reactions 238U(n, f), 237Np(n, f), 235U(n, f), 232Th(n, f) and 239Pu(n, f) can be reasonably well reproduced. Some predictions for these reactions at unmeasured incident energies are also presented.
