Fission properties of $^{253}$Rf and the stability of neutron-deficient Rf isotopes

An analysis of recent experimental data [J. Khuyagbaatar et al., Phys. Rev. C 104, L031303 (2021)] has established the existence of two fissioning states in $^{253}$Rf: the ground state and a low-lying isomeric state, most likely involving the same neutron single-particle configurations as in the lighter isotone $^{251}$No. The ratio of fission half-lives measured in $^{253}$Rf was used to predict the fission properties of the 1/2$^{+}$ isomeric state in $^{251}$No and draw conclusions as to the stability against fission of even lighter Rf systems. This paper focusses again on the fission properties of $^{253}$Rf and their impact on the stability of other neutron deficient isotopes, using new and improved data collected from two experiments performed at the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions in Dubna, Russia. Two fission activities with half-lives of 52.8(4.4)$~\mu$s and 9.9(1.2) ms were measured in the case of $^{253}$Rf, confirming the results of J. Kkuyagbaatar et al. A third state, at much higher excitation energy, was also observed through the detection of its electromagnetic decay to the 52.8$~\mu$s state. This observation leads to the opposite quantum-configuration assignments for the fissioning states as compared to the ones established by J. Khuyagbaatar et al., namely that the higher-spin state has the shortest fission half-life. This inversion of the ratio of fission hindrances between the low and high-spin states is corroborated in the isotone $^{251}$No by the non observation of any substantial fission branch from the low-spin isomer.