Fission Fragment Angular Distributions by Exact Power Series

A method is illustrated for computing exactly the various terms of the power series for fission fragment angular distributions. No semiclassical approximation to the wave functions is made. The results are therefore accurate even for small angular momenta. The angular distributions are calculated explicitly to second order, including perturbative effects of spin and of angular-momentum-dependent fissionability. Results are compared with exact numerical calculations to illustrate the adequacy of the first- and second-order approximations under various circumstances.