Alpha particle emission from the 198Pb compound nucleus: comparison between the fusion-evaporation and the pre-scission channels

The α-particle emission from the ²⁸Si+¹⁷⁰Er fusion-evaporation reaction at 165 and 185 MeV has been measured and compared with published data relative to the pre-scission emission in the same reaction. The spectra in the two channels exhibit nearly the same shape in the low energy region, whereas in the high energy region the spectrum for the fusion-evaporation case features a larger apparent temperature. The interpretation of the difference in shape between the two decay channels is based on statistical model calculations which account for the effects due to the different length of the decay chain. Statistical model calculations with standard parameters describe well the gross features of the alpha particle spectra in the fusion-evaporation channel and the proton spectra in the pre-scission channel. On the contrary, the model predictions seem to overestimate by ≃2 MeV the emission barrier for the alpha particles in the pre-fission channel. This effect is ascribed to the larger elongation of the nucleus during the fission process. An average axis ratio b/a∼ 2 for the emitter is suggested. Received 29 April 1997 / Revised version 10 September 1997     

Absolute residue cross sections for 46–50Ti + 13C reactions at 36, 46 and 56 MeV

Absolute cross sections for nuclei produced in the reactions ^46–50Ti + ¹³C at 36, 46 and 56 MeV (lab) were measured. Complete identification in mass and atomic number for the evaporation residues was obtained by means of in-beam γ-ray spectroscopy techniques. In the entire energy range, an overall satisfactory account of the observed product nuclei is given by the predictions of the fusion-evaporation model. Direct channels like inelastic scattering and n-transfer appear to be noticeable and contribute ~ 15 % to the total cross section.     

Application of the program LISE to fusion-evaporation

A new fusion-evaporation model LisFus for fast calculation of fusion residue cross sections has been developed in the framework of the code LISE. This model can calculate very small cross sections quickly compared to programs using the Monte Carlo method. Such type of the fast calculations is necessary to estimate fusion residue yields. Using this model, the program LISE now has the possibility of calculating the transmission of fusion residues through a fragment separator. It is also possible to use fusion residue cross sections calculated by the program PACE, which has been incorporated in the LISE package. The code PACE is a modified version of JULIAN—the Hillman-Eyal evaporation code using a Monte Carlo code coupling angular momentum. A comparison between PACE and the LisFus model is presented.     

Light-ion-induced reactions in mass measurements of neutron-deficient nuclides close to A = 100

A survey of neutron-deficient nuclides which can be produced via proton- and ³He -induced fusion-evaporation reactions in the A = 100 region was made using a Penning trap as a high-resolution mass filter. A comparison of the measured isotopic rates with a statistical model calculation for the proton-induced reactions shows the importance of using the precise binding energy values for the final reaction products. In particular, proton separation energies were found to play an important role in the evaporation process. In addition, accurate masses of 12 nuclides, ^{97-99, 101}Pd , ¹⁰⁰Ag , ^101-105Cd and ^{102, 104}In , were determined with uncertainties of less than 10keV.     

Decay Experiments on N∼Z nuclei: The role of Masses, Q Values and Separation Energies

By using heavy-ion induced fusion-evaporation reactions at the on-line mass separator of GSI, decay properties of neutron-deficient isotopes between ⁵⁶Ni and ¹⁰⁰Sn were investigated. Recent experimental results will be presented and discussed, with particular emphasis on the role of masses, Q values and separation energies. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Status of HIGISOL, a New Version Equipped with SPIG and Electric Field Guidance

A new HIGISOL chamber devoted to the study of short-lived products from heavy-ion-induced fusion-evaporation reactions is proposed. It enables, via the extraction of ions by means of a SPIG (SextuPole rf Ion Guide), to improve the mass resolving power by a factor 2.5 compared to the previous system using a skimmer-ring assembly. The gas cell was also equiped with an electric field for faster transportation of recoiling ions to the nozzle where they are ejected with the gas jet. The first results obtained both with a radioactive α-source and cyclotron beam will be reported. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The reactions of 12C with 12C AT 293 MeV

Energy spectra, angular distributions, and elemental yield distributions have been measured for products Z = 1?9 produced in the reactions of ¹²C on ¹²C. A total reaction cross section 1170_?100⁺¹⁷⁰ mb was determined from the measured elemental cross sections and the principle of charge conservation. This total reaction cross section is about 250 mb less than the geometric cross section and agrees with the Glauber-model calculations of DeVries and Peng. The experimental energy spectra, angular distributions, and yield distributions were compared with those from model calculations for the statistical decay of the products of fusion and of incomplete fusion reactions. For both types of calculations, a modified version of the code LILITA was used. By comparing the data to model calculations, an upper limit of 75 mb for the fusion cross section was determined. That limit corresponds to an upper limit of L_crit for fusion of 10? in the sharp-cutoff approximation. The dominant reaction mechanisms appear to be incomplete fusion processes.     

Open problems in formation and decay of composite systems in heavy ion reactions

New highly exclusive experiments in the field of formation and decay of composite systems in heavy ion reactions are presented. Dynamical effects are reviewed in the light of recent works on the role of the N/Z asymmetry between projectile and target. The possibility of extracting directly from the experimental data the emission barrier of alpha particles emitted from highly excited nuclei is discussed. Finally, the first experimental evidence of double giant resonance excitation in fusion-evaporation reaction is presented.     

Energy-Ordered Spectra in continuum gamma decay studies. Analytical perspectives

Monte Carlo simulations of the continuum gamma decay after fusion-evaporation reactions show that Energy-Ordered Spectra can be adjusted to a mathematical function. By using such fits to experimental spectra it would be possible to extract physical parameters describing the nuclei at high intrinsic excitation energy and spin.     

Mass yield distributions of target fragments from the reactions of iron with 135 MeV/nucleon 12C and 80 MeV/nucleon 16O ions

Cross sections for the production of target fragments in the reactions of iron with 135 MeV/nucleon ¹²C and 80 MeV/nucleon ¹⁶O ions have been measured by off-line γ-ray spectroscopy. Through these data, the mass yield distributions have been obtained. The result of the experiment for the reaction with 135 MeV/nucleon ¹²C ions is compared with theoretical calculations using the fusion-fragmentation model and the GEMINI code for sequential binary decay, following a calculation with the fireball model. Reveived: 24 March 1999 / Revised version: 16 July 1999     

Spontaneous fission of neutron-deficient fermium isotopes and the new nucleus 241Fm

Spontaneous fission of neutron-deficient fermium isotopes (N ≤ 144) was investigated. The nuclei were produced in fusion-evaporation reactions of ⁴⁰Ar beams with ^{204,206–208}Pb targets. Excitation functions of the two-and three-neutron evaporation channels were measured. The new isotope ²⁴¹Fm was identified, and its decay properties were determined. A previously made assignment of a 0.8 ms spontaneous-fission activity to the isotope ²⁴²Fm could not be confirmed. Isomeric states were not observed in any of the investigated isotopes. The experiments were performed at the velocity filter SHIP of GSI in Darmstadt.     

Study of very neutron deficient nuclei 178Pt and 181Au

The ¹⁷⁸Pt and ¹⁸¹Au nuclei have been studied with the (230 MeV) ⁴⁶Ti +¹⁴²Nd fusion-evaporation reaction; γ-rays, evaporated particles and recoiling nuclei have been detected by the γ-array GASP + the Si ball ISIS + the recoil mass spectrometer RMS. The newly observed structures in ¹⁷⁸Pt and ¹⁸¹Au are most probably built on the proton and quasi-proton h_9/2 and i_13/2 configurations. Received: 2 January 1998 / Revised version: 27 May 1998     

Average g-factors for high-spin states in 78Kr

Inverse reactions of ^{63, 65}Cu beams on ^{18, 16}O targets have been used to populate states of ⁷⁸Kr by fusion-evaporation reactions. The excited nuclei recoiled at high velocity v/c ≈ 7 % through a polarized iron (⁵⁴Fe) layer and were stopped in a copper layer. During the period in iron, 0.05–0.65 ps, the nuclei were subjected to the intense transient magnetic field (initially ～ 3500 T). The resulting precession of the high-spin nuclear states populated during this time was determined by measuring the time integral rotation angle of the discrete γ-ray transitions at low spin.The average g-factor at low spin 2 ≦ J ≦ 8 compared to that at higher spin 8 ≦ J ≦ 12 in ⁷⁸Kr was found to be identical within the experimental uncertainties of ～ 15 %. This result implies that either there are no rotational alignment effects at the backbend in ⁷⁸Kr or more plausibly, proton (g ≈ 1) and neutron (g ≈ 0) aligned bands are equally competitive and both populated in the reaction. It is then likely that the resulting g-factor represents an average over many populated proton and neutron aligned bands.     

Fusion-like processes and the concept of dynamic equivalence: The system 132Xe + natFe

Cross sections for production of nuclides in the reaction of 4.56, 5.90 and 7.12 $\text{MeV}\text{u}$¹³²Xe ions with thick natural Fe targets were determined, and the corresponding mass- and charge-yield curves have been constructed. The latter are resolved into components corresponding to fusion-fission (symmetric fragmentation), fusion-evaporation, deep-inelastic transfer and quasielastic transfer. The integral excitation functions for fusion and fusion-like processes exhibit very good agreement with the predictions of the dynamic capture model of Swiatecki. Furthermore, the observed extra push energies for this system and those of ²⁰⁸Pb + ⁴⁸Ca show very similar dependencies on the corresponding entrance-channel orbital energies, in line with the model prediction that these systems should be dynamically equivalent.     

DESCANT – the deuterated scintillator array for neutron tagging

The DESCANT array is a new device for neutron detection based on deuterated liquid scintillator. It has been designed to be coupled with the TIGRESS and GRIFFIN γ-ray spectrometers to enable neutron tagging in fusion-evaporation reactions, and β-delayed neutron studies.     

Fusion reactions around the barrier for Be+~(238)U

Fusion-evaporation cross sections of ~(238)U (~9Be,5n)~(242)Cm are measured over a wide energy range around the Coulomb barrier.These measured cross sections are compared with model calculations using two codes,namely HIVAP2 and KEWPIE2.HIVAP2 calculations overestimate the measured fusion-evaporation cross sections by a factor of approximately 3.In KEWPIE2 calculations,two approaches,namely the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin(WKB) approximation and the empirical barrier-distribution (EBD) method,are used for the capture probability;both of them properly describe the measured cross sections.Additionally,fusion cross sections of ~(7,9)Be+~(238)U measured in two experiments are applied to constrain model calculations further through three codes,i.e.,HIVAP2,KEWPIE2,and CCFULL.Parameters in these codes are also examined by comparison with measured fusion cross sections.All the comparisons indicate that the KEWPIE2 calculations using the WKB approximation agree well with the measured cross sections of both fusion reactions ~(7,9)Be+~(238)U and the fusion-evaporation reaction ~(238)U (~9Be,5n)~(242)Cm.Calculations using the fusion code CCFULL are also in good agreement with the measured fusion cross sections of ~(7,9)Be+~(238)U.     

Decay properties of <Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis>∼<Emphasis Type="Italic">Z</Emphasis> nuclei

By using heavy-ion induced fusion-evaporation reactions at the on-line mass separator of GSI, the decay properties of neutron-deficient isotopes between ⁵⁶Ni and ¹⁰⁰Sn were investigated. The experimental results will be presented and discussed in comparison with model predictions.     

Fusion-evaporation cross-sections for 48Ca + 154Sm near the Coulomb barrier

Measurements of fusion-evaporation cross-sections for the system ⁴⁸Ca + ¹⁵⁴Sm have been performed in the sub- and near-barrier energy range. Barrier-passing cross-sections have been obtained by adding recently measured capture-fission cross-sections at the same energies, and the barrier distribution for capture has been extracted. The data have been analyzed within a coupled-channel model, and a large subbarrier cross-section enhancement is observed, due to the ground-state prolate deformation of ¹⁵⁴Sm. The ⁴⁸Ca + ¹⁵⁴Sm capture cross-sections are compared to existing data on ¹⁶O + ¹⁸⁶W fusion, leading to the same CN, where a few higher-energy points have also been measured. The evaporation residue cross-sections for the two systems above the barrier indicate that complete fusion is inhibited for ⁴⁸Ca + ¹⁵⁴Sm by 40% in that energy region, with respect to ¹⁶O + ¹⁸⁶W.     

Decay properties of N ≃ Z nuclei

This review focusses on recent results obtained by using fusion-evaporation reactions for the production of N ≃ Z nuclei, the on-line mass separator of GSI for the preparation of the radioactive samples, and charged-particle and γ-ray detectors for performing decay spectroscopy. The experimental results on prompt and β-delayed disintegration modes are discussed in comparison with theoretical model predictions. Received: 21 March 2002 / Accepted: 16 May 2002 / Published online: 31 October 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: e.roeckl@gsi.de     

A statistical approach to describe highly excited heavy and superheavy nuclei

A statistical approach based on the Weisskopf evaporation theory has been developed to describe the deexcitation process of highly excited heavy and superheavy nuclei, in particular for the proton-rich nuclei. The excited nucleus is cooled by evaporating γ-rays, light particles(neutrons, protons, α etc) in competition with binary fission,in which the structure effects(shell correction, fission barrier, particle separation energy) contribute to the processes.The formation of residual nuclei is evaluated via sequential emission of possible particles above the separation energies.The available data of fusion-evaporation excitation functions in the ~(28)Si+~(198)Pt reaction can be reproduced nicely within the approach.