Coherent electromagnetic radiation from the fragments of nuclear fission

The electromagnetic radiation from two vibrating fission fragments is classically treated. The rotational and translational motion of the fragments during emission and the interference of the radiation from the two individual fragments are taken into account. It is shown that the angular distribution of the radiation contains valuable information on the fission process and that the spectral distribution depends sensitively on the damping of the shape vibration.Dedicated to Professor P. Armbruster and P. Kienle on the occasion of their 60th birthday     

Surface fission tracks in diamond

Scanning Probe Microscope (SPM) images reveal important fingerprint features of latent tracks induced in diamond by fission fragments from a californium source. Collimated fission fragments with a binary distribution of the predominant energies of 79.4 and 103.8 MeV, are assumed. Cavities, reticular formations around these cavities, and black spots of graphite were found. A brief discussion on the possible track formation mechanism is given on the basis of the explosion spike theory; an attempt to determine latent track core and halo parameters is included.     

基于GEM工艺的裂变时间投影室中裂变碎片的讨论

基于GEM工艺的裂变时间投影室兼具GEM工艺的高计数率、高空间分辨本领等优点,我们拟通过裂变时间投影室在单次测量中准确获取裂变产物的核电荷数、质量数以及能量等多种信息。本文主要讨论了基于GEM工艺的裂变时间投影室中工作气体的种类、气压以及裂变碎片在气室中的能量损失和有效电荷问题,发现对于轻重两种裂变碎片的能量损失而言,重裂变碎片的分布宽度更窄。并针对裂变碎片在气室中的能量损失,提出了一种通过裂变碎片的有效电荷获取核电荷数的方法。这对于裂变时间投影室的研制工作以及实现裂变产物的多参量测量具有重要意义。     

Post-scission dissipative motion and fission-fragment kinetic energy

A dynamic model developed earlier is used to describe the last stage of nuclear fission: the postscission motion of fission fragments. In this process, Coulomb repulsive energy turns into the kinetic energy of fission fragments measured by experimenters. It is shown that the dissipated energy can be as high as 10% of the average experimental kinetic energy.     

Quantum and thermodynamic properties of spontaneous and low-energy induced fission of nuclei

It is shown that A. Bohr’s concept of transition fission states can be matched with the properties of Coriolis interaction if an axisymmetric fissile nucleus near the scission point remains cold despite a nonadiabatic character of nuclear collective deformation motion. The quantum and thermodynamic properties of various stages of binary and ternary fission after the descent of a fissile nucleus fromt he outer saddle point are studied within quantum-mechanical fission theory. It is shown that two-particle nucleon-nucleon correlations—in particular, superfluid correlations— play an important role in the formation of fission products and in the classification of fission transitions. The distributions of thermalized primary fission fragments with respect to spins and their projections onto the symmetry axis of the fissile nucleus and fission fragments are constructed, these distributions determining the properties of prompt neutrons and gamma rays emitted by these fragments. A new nonevaporation mechanism of third-particle production in ternary fission is proposed. This mechanism involves transitions of third particles from the cluster states of the fissile-nucleus neck to high-energy states under effects of the shake-off type that are due to the nonadiabatic character of nuclear collective deformation motion.     

Emission properties of fission fragments and their isomeric ratios

The properties of neutron emission from fragments formed in the spontaneous fission of ²⁵²Cf and in the thermal-neutron-induced fission of ²³⁵U are analyzed on the basis of the statistical model of nuclear reactions. Upon extracting the mean excitation energies of fission fragments from experimental data on the mean multiplicities of neutrons, the observables of neutron emission can be described over wide ranges of total kinetic energies and masses. The observed values of mean fragment spins are also reproduced. A method for calculating the isomeric ratios of the independent yields of fission fragments that is based on the cascade-evaporation model of excited-nucleus decay is employed to describe experimental data on ²³⁵U fission induced by thermal neutrons and on ²³⁸U fission induced by alpha particles. The effect exerted on the isomeric ratios for fission fragments by two different assumptions on the spin distributions of primary-fragment populations—the assumption of the distribution associated with rotational degrees of freedom and the assumption of the distribution associated with the internal degrees of freedom of fully accelerated fragments—is investigated.     

Decay and fission of oriented nuclei

The angular distributions of fragments originating from the binary decay of oriented spherical and deformed nuclei are investigated with allowance for correct transformation properties of wave functions under time inversion. It is shown that, as in the case of protonic decay, the adiabatic approximation for collective rotational degrees of freedom of the systems under investigation is inapplicable in describing the angular distributions of fragments of the deep-subbarrier alpha and cluster decays of nuclei. It is demonstrated that this approximation is justified in describing spontaneous and induced low-energy nuclear fission. The dependence of partial fission widths on the orientation of intrinsic axes, spins, and projections of spins and relative orbital angular momenta of fission fragments is analyzed by using the formalism of the unified theory of nuclear reactions and the theory of open Fermi systems. It is shown that the adiabatic approximation leads to the coherent interference between the wave functions for the relative motion of fragments, whereby the universal angular distributions of fission fragments of oriented nuclei is formed. Deviations from the A. Bohr formula are investigated for these distributions.     

Isomeric yield ratios of fission products in the system of 24 MeV proton-induced fission of238U

Isomeric yield ratios of 30 fission products in 24 MeV proton-induced fission of²³⁸U were measured by the use of the ion-guide isotope separator on-line. The obtained isomeric yield ratios were converted to the angular momenta of primary fission fragments based on the statistical model. The deduced angular momenta were examined from various aspects. It is found that in general the angular momentum continuously increases with the fragment mass number including the region of symmetric mass division. However, there are some exceptions. For Sn isotopes the deduced angular momenta are quite small due to the spherical shape of the nuclear shell configuration. It is also concluded from the consideration of the charge distribution that the angular momentum of fission product scatters considerably within the narrow range of mass division. The dependence of the angular momentum on the available energy of fragments at scission point indicates that the individual fragment possesses a characteristic deformation at scission and/or the deduced angular momentum is seriously affected by the particle excitation after scission.     

Nonuniform character of the population of spin projections K for a fissile nucleus at the scission point and anisotropies in the angular distributions of fragments originating from the induced fission of nuclei

It is shown that the emergence of anisotropies in the angular distributions of fragments originating from the spontaneous and induced fission of oriented actinide nuclei is possible only if nonuniformities in the population of the projectionsM (K) of the fissile-nucleus spin onto the z axis of the laboratory frame (fissile-nucleus symmetry axis) appear simultaneously in the vicinity of the scission point but not in the vicinity of the outer saddle point of the deformation potential. The possibilities for creating the orientation of fissile nuclei for spontaneous and induced fission and the effect of these orientations on the anisotropies under analysis are considered. The role of Coriolis interaction as a unique source of the mixing of different-K fissile-nucleus states at all stages of the fission process is studied with allowance for the dynamical enhancement of this interaction for excited thermalized states of the nucleus involved that is characterized by a high energy density. It is shown that the absence of thermalization of excited states of the fissile nucleus that appear because of the effect of nonadiabaticity of its collective deformation motion in the vicinity of the scission point is a condition of conservation of the influence that transition fission states formed at the inner and outer fission barriers exerts on the distribution of the spin projections K for lowenergy spontaneous nuclear fission. It is confirmed that anisotropies observed in the angular distributions of fragments originating from the fission of nuclei that is induced by fast light particles (multiply charged ions) are due to the appearance of strongly excited equilibrium(nonequilibrium) states of the fissile nucleus in the vicinity of its scission point that have a Gibbs (non-Gibbs) distribution of projections K.     

Bi—dimension Position Sensitive Detector Used in the Study of Fusion Fission of Heavy Ions at the Sub—Coulomb Barrier Energy Region

The structure,operation principle and performance of the bi—dimension position sensitive avalanche chamber (BPAC) used in the study of fusion fission induced by heavy ions at the near and sub-Coulomb barrier energy region are describerd.
The fold angle distribution of fragments in different angle region for 84MeV(E_cm)¹⁶O+²³²Th reaction system was obtained by using BPAC,from which the angle distribution of transfer—fission fragments has been distinguished from that of compound mucleus fission fragments.It is thereby certified that transfer—fission is not the reason of anomalous anisotropies of fragment angle distribution.Meanwhile experimental results supported the preequilibrium fission model,in frame of which the anomalous anisotropies of fragment distribution was explained.     

裂变碎块角分布与鞍点结构

从Jacob和Wick所推导的具有自旋粒子的散射矩阵元一般表示式出发,采用适当近似后,分析了中子引起Th²³⁰,Th²³²,U²³⁴,U²³⁶,U²³⁸裂变的阈能附近碎块角分布的实验数据。分析结果说明:1)阈能附近碎块角分布可以用裂变是通过鞍点上少数转动带(每一带具有确定的宇称)来解释;2)这些转动带与Nilsson的渐近能谱图所预言的基本上一致。同时利用对称裂变鞍点比非对称裂变鞍点高的观点,讨论了裂变碎块角分布各向异性与质量比之间的关系。     

Frictional effects on post-scisson dynamics and fission fragment kinetic energies

Effect of friction on the post-scission motion of fission fragments is studied. It is shown that, with values of the frictional constant in the neighbourhood of those obtained from heavy-ion reaction data, no significant pre-scission kinetic energy can exist.     

Angular distributions of fragments originating from the spontaneous fission of oriented nuclei and problem of the conservation of the spin projection onto the symmetry axis of a fissile nucleus

The concept of transition fission states, which was successfully used to describe the angular distributions of fragments for the spontaneous and low-energy induced fission of axisymmetric nuclei, proves to be correct if the spin projection onto the symmetry axis of a fissile nucleus is an integral of the motion for the external region from the descent of the fissile nucleus from the external fission barrier to the scission point. Upon heating a fissile nucleus in this region to temperatures of T ≈ 1 MeV (this is predicted by many theoretical models of the fission process), the Coriolis interaction uniformly mixes the possible projections of the fissile-nucleus spin for the case of low spin values, this leading to the loss of memory about transition fission states in the asymptotic region where the angular distributions of fragments are formed. Within quantum-mechanical fission theory, which takes into account deviations from A. Bohr’s formula, the angular distributions of fragments are calculated for spontaneously fissile nuclei aligned by an external magnetic field at ultralow temperatures, and it is shown that an analysis of experimental angular distributions of fragments would make it possible to solve the problem of spin-projection conservation for fissile nuclei in the external region.     

Parity nonconservation and Brosa modes in nuclear fission

The parity nonconserving (PNC) asymmetry coefficient for the angular distribution of fragment emission from binary fission of²³³U irradiated by polarized thermal neutrons has been measured. Complementary fragments were detected by a double ionization chamber with high resolving power. The experiment was carried out at the high flux reactor of the ILL, Grenoble. Integrated over all masses and energies of light fragments from asymmetric fission of²³⁴U^h, the PNC asymmetry coefficient is found to be =(3.29±0.31) × 10^–4.The positive sign of indicates a preferential emission of light fragments parallel to the spin of neutrons inducing fission. Theory claims that PNC effects are sensitive to the properties of the fission barrier. On the other hand, one may wonder whether characteristics of eventual fragments are already specified at the barrier. The measurement of PNC asymmetries for distinct mass-energy ranges of fragments has been utilized to answer this question. Mass-energy distributions of fragments were analyzed along the lines of the Brosa model of fission as a superposition of individual modes. Within experimental uncertainty no mode dependence of asymmetric fission could be disclosed. The result is in keeping with the Brosa model where asymmetric modes bifurcate only once the standard fission barrier has been passed.     

EFFECT OF NUCLEAR VISCOSITY ON FISSION PROCESS

According to the fission diffusion model,the deformation motion of fission nucleues is regarded as a diffusion process of quasi-Brownian particles under fission potential,Through simulating such Brownian motion in two dimensional phase space by Monte-Carlo method,the effect of nuclear viscosity on Brownian particle diffusion is studied,Dynamical quantities,suchas fission rate,kinetic energy distribution on scission,and so on are numerally calculated for various viscosity coefficients,The results are reasonable in physics,This method can be easily extended to deal with multi-dimensional diffusion problems.     

Polar light charged particles accompanying spontaneous fission

Simple model of emission of light charged polar particles accompanying fission of heavy nuclei is presented. We assume the emission from the whole surface of fragments after scission, taking into account the influence of the accompanying fragment. The initial energy and time of emission are treated phenomenologically. The motion of light particles and fission fragments are subsequently calculated in the framework of classical dynamics. We get a good agreement with experimental data if we assume a prompt emission. The possibility of the connection with giant resonances is discussed.     

Statistical emission of large fragments: A general theoretical approach

A theory for the statistical emission of large fragments is developed. In analogy with the fission saddle point, a ridge line in the potential energy surface is defined which controls the decay width of the system into any two given fragments. The normal modes at the ridge are separated into three classes: decay modes, amplifying modes, and non-amplifying modes. Amplifying modes are those whose thermal fluctuations are amplified and lead to a broadening of the kinetic energy distribution. Analytical expressions for the kinetic energy distributions are developed for various combinations of amplifying and non-amplifying modes. The limit for large amplifications is a Gaussian kinetic energy distribution. The limit for no amplification is a Maxwellian-like distribution. Thus the formalism comprehends the fission decay on one hand and the neutron evaporation on the other. The angular distributions are evaluated in terms of the ridge line principal moments of inertia. A general analytical expression has been derived which predicts, correctly in both limits, the angular distributions of the evaporated neutrons and of the fission fragments.     

Purely quantum effects in fission

It is shown that the large values of the orbital momenta of relative motion of fission fragments result from purely quantum effects of orientational pumping related to the uncertainty relations.     

Determination of the fission fragment excitation energy with allowance for neutron multiplicity

The study of the excitation energy distribution of fission fragments as a function of their mass and charge is important for revealing the nuclear fission mechanism and useful for many applications. To measure directly the excitation energy of primary fission fragments (before emission of neutrons) is a great problem. A method of obtaining these excitation energies from calculated neutron multiplicities and experimental values for differential yields of fragment pairs after emission of neutrons is considered. The Empire-II code was used to calculate neutron multiplicities as a function of various characteristics of the nuclear structure, fission process, and fission fragment deexcitation.