Ternary fission within statistical approach

The ternary system with a light nucleus between two heavy fragments is assumed to appear from the binary configuration near scission. The formation of a third light nucleus in the binary system is considered. The calculated charge distributions in spontaneous ternary fission of ²⁵²Cf and in induced ternary fission of ⁵⁶Ni are compared with the available experimental data. The neutron multiplicity from the fission fragments is described. The fine structures of the TKE-mass distribution are predicted.     

Cold deformed fission in232U(n,f) and239Pu(n,f)

Masses, charges and kinetic energies of light fission fragments from the reactions²³²U(n, f) and²³⁹Pu(n, f) induced by thermal neutrons have been measured on the Cosi fan tutte spectrometer of the Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble. Both at very high and very low kinetic energies marked fine structures in the mass yields and odd-even staggerings in the charge yields are observed. In the framework of a scission point model the results are shown to point to compact and deformed scission configurations, respectively, where at scission the fragments carry no intrinsic excitation energy. The two limiting processes may, therefore, be called cold compact fission (usually known as cold fission) and cold deformed fission. The latter process as a general phenomenon of low energy fission has come into focus only recently.     

Coulomb effects in low energy fission

The structures in the total kinetic energy (TKE) distributions in cold fission of²³⁴U and²³⁶U are interpreted in terms of the Coulomb interaction energy (C) between fragments at the scission point. The maximal value ofC, C _max, corresponding to the most compact scission configuration, is calculated for several mass fragmentations. It is shown that withQ being constant,C _max increases if one increases the charge asymmetry for a given primary fragmentation. This condition produces oscillations with a period of approximately 5 amu ofC _max as a function of the light fragment mass which are correlated with the observed oscillations of the maximal value of TKE. Moreover, the enhancement of the yields of the more asymmetric charge fragmentation for a given fragmentation is explained.     

Processes involving a change in the charge states during interactions of He2+ ions with fullerenes

The cross sections for the elementary processes involving a change of the charge states of both particles during the interaction of He²⁺ ions with fullerene molecules are for the first time measured over a broad energy range of electron-volt energies. It is found that processes involving the capture of one or two electrons by the He²⁺ ions are accompanied by additional ionization of the fullerene and that the collisional contribution of the transfer-ionization processes increases with increasing velocity. Single-electron capture is rarely accompanied by fragmentation of the fullerene. Double-electron capture leads, with a higher probability, to fragmentation with the formation of several light charged fragments and, with a smaller probability, to fragmentation with the formation of a heavy charged fragment containing an even number of carbon atoms and light fragments in an uncharged state. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 68, 12–14 (April 1998)     

Semi-microscopical description of the scission configuration in the neutronless fission of 252Cf

The neutronless fission of ²⁵²Cf is studied in the frame of a molecular model in which the scission configuration is described by two aligned fragments interacting by means of Coulomb (+ nuclear) forces. The study is carried out for different distances between the fragments tips and excitation energies. For a given deformation, the fragment's total energy is computed via the constrained Hartree-Fock + BCS formalism. The total excitation energy present in the fragments is supposed to contribute only to the fragments deformation and the asymptotic value of the kinetic energy is equated to the inter-fragment potential at scission. These two constraints are yielding a few fission channels for a fixed tip distance and excitation energy. Discarding those fission channels corresponding to a disequilibrium in the sharing of the excitation energy between the two fragments, we establish the most likely scission configurations for a specified excitation energy. Received: 24 September 1999     

Deformation effects in the 28Si+12C and 28Si+28Si reactions

The possible occurrence of highly deformed configurations is investigated in the ⁴⁰Ca and ⁵⁶Ni di-nuclear systems as formed in the ²⁸Si + ¹²C, ²⁸Si reactions by using the properties of emitted light charged particles. Inclusive as well as exclusive data of the heavy fragments and their associated light charged particles have been collected by using the ICARE charged particle multidetector array. The data are analysed by Monte Carlo CASCADE statistical-model calculations using a consistent set of parameters with spin-dependent level densities. Significant deformation effects at high spin are observed as well as an unexpected large ⁸Be cluster emission of a binary nature.     

Evidence for shape deformations of fragments in deep inelastic collisions

The number and energy spectra of neutrons evaporated by the heavy and light fragments in deep inelastic collisions have been obtained for the system 240 MeV⁴⁰Ar +¹⁹⁷Au. They indicate that at the scission point the deformation energy is a large part of the total excitation energy espe cially for the light fragment. In the last two years, neutron emission has been studied in deep inelastic reactions^1?6. All the results are similar: the incident energy which is lost during the process is transformed into excitation energy of the final fragments and is shared between the two products proportionnally to their masses. This means that the nuclear temperature was uniform in the composite system. The excitation energy equilibration time is really very short since equilibration is achieved after reaction times as small as 10^?22 s^2,6. Moreover, no preequilibrium emission (direct neutrons-) has been observed.     

Mass and kinetic energy distribution in cold fission of233U,235U and239Pu induced by thermal neutrons

The time-of-flight technique was used to measure the mass and kinetic energy distribution of fragments from fission of²³³U,²³⁵U and²³⁹Pu, induced by thermal neutrons at the Grenoble High Flux Reactor. The data array is presented as equal probability lines in the high kinetic energy regions. The fluctuations observed in those experimental lines are explained by a static scission configuration model, in which the most important influence comes from the Coulomb interaction energy between the two fragments. The highest values of total kinetic energy are obtained for fragmentations with heavy fragmentsZ=50–52,N=80–82 and light fragmentsZ=40–42,N=60–64.     

Cold and “hot” fragmentation in thermal neutron induced fission of 245Cm

In thermal neutron induced fission of ²⁴⁵Cm a fine structure in mass distribution is observed in cold and “hot” fragmentation regions for light as well as for heavy fragments. The complementarity of the light and heavy fragment masses in the fine structures is discussed.     

Coincidence studies of heavy fragment pairs in the reaction 343 MeV40Ar+197Au

Measurements are reported for correlated energies and angles of heavy fragments from reactions of 343 MeV⁴⁰Ar with¹⁹⁷Au. The results show a continuous evolution of the mass distributions from fission-like products at angle pairs of ≈60 and 300 degrees to deeply inelastic projectile-like products at ≈45° and 300°. Certain difficulties are emphasized for the use of the “symmetric fragmentation” cross sections in the context of current theoretical models (e.g. the “extra push” theory). The fission-like reactions have been studied in some detail and the results have been compared to a Monte Carlo kinematic simulation. To account for the experimental results forward-peaked light particle emission (n, H, He) must occur in a large fraction of the fission-like reactions.     

Search for mass-symmetric ternary fission in the reactions 14N(53 A MeV)+197Au and 232Th

Ternary fission of heavy hot composite systems with excitation energies of 1.5–2.5 MeV$\text{/}$amu has been studied in the reactions of ¹⁴N(53 $\text{A}$ MeV) with ¹⁹⁷Au and ²³²Th. The ternary yields have been explored as a function of the charge $\text{Z}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>L</mtext>}}$ of the lightest fragment: while $\text{Z}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>L</mtext>}}$ increases from 6 to 25, the cross sections decrease from 5 to 0.08 mb for N$\text{+}$Au and from 15 to 0.8 mb for N$\text{+}$Th. The velocity vector $\text{v}\text{→}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>L</mtext>}}$ of the lightest fragment has been investigated in the rest frame of the other two heavier fragments. Two different components are observed: (i) an isotropic one with values of $\text{v}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>L</mtext>}}$ corresponding to the Coulomb repulsion from the combined heavier fragments before separation and, (ii) an anisotropic contribution with the lightest fragment emitted with lower $\text{v}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>L</mtext>}}$ perpendicular to the scission axis of the two heavier fragments. The latter component is distinguished from the isotropic one by an enhanced fraction of mass-symmetric ternary events and by up to 50 MeV lower total kinetic fragment energies. These features are indicative of a collinear stretched scission configuration, where the lightest fragment is positioned between the two heavier ones.     

Gas-cell-based setup for the production and study of neutron rich heavy nuclei

The present limits of the upper part of the nuclear map are very close to stability while the unexplored area of heavy neutron-rich nuclides along the neutron closed shell N = 126 is extremely important for nuclear astrophysics investigations and, in particular, for the understanding of the r-process of astrophysical nucleosynthesis. This area of the nuclear map can be reached neither in fusion–fission reactions nor in fragmentation processes widely used nowadays for the production of exotic nuclei. A new way was recently proposed for the production of these nuclei via low-energy multi-nucleon transfer reactions. The estimated yields of neutron-rich nuclei are found to be significantly high in such reactions and several tens of new nuclides can be produced, for example, in the near-barrier collision of ¹³⁶Xe with ²⁰⁸Pb. A new setup is proposed to produce and study heavy neutron-rich nuclei located along the neutron closed shell N = 126.     

Study of the 40Ar + 68Zn reaction at 27.6 MeVNucleon

The various reaction mechanisms observed in the ⁴⁰Ar(1102 MeV) + ⁶⁸Zn reaction have been studied. Projectile-like fragments appear to result, in addition to deep-inelastic collisions, from projectile breakup, i.e. a process bearing a close similarity to high-energy fragmentation, and from direct transfer of nucleons. The origin of light fragments (4 ? Z ? 10) can be explained in terms of three distinct sources; one moving with the projectile velocity, a second having a velocity corresponding to full transfer of the projectile linear momentum to the projectile-plus-target system, and a third source moving with a velocity intermediate between the first two and corresponding to a very excited and non-equilibrated localized region of the nuclear system. The heavy fragments result essentially from an incomplete fusion process. Some features of the various types of fragments have been calculated. Comparisons with existing models are presented.     

Deep inelastic collisions of32S +27Al reaction at 130 MeV bombarding energy

The³²S +²⁷Al reaction was studied to investigate the deep inelastic collisions at a bombarding energy of 130 MeV which is well above the Coulomb barrier. The energy distributions of the binary decay products of 6⩽Z⩽10 were determined using a large area position sensitive ionization chamber. The average kinetic energies of the reaction products indicate that the exit shapes correspond to highly stretched scission configurations in the deep-inelastic processes.     

Ternary fission fragmentation of <Superscript>252</Superscript>Cf for all possible third fragments

The ternary fragmentation of ²⁵²Cf for all possible third fragments has been investigated using the recently proposed three-cluster model within a spherical approximation and satisfying the condition A ₁ 3 \geq A ₂ 3 \geq A ₃ . The most probable ternary configurations in the fission of ²⁵²Cf accompanied with all possible third fragment mass numbers from A ₃ = 1 to 84 are predicted and their independent and overall relative yields are calculated. The calculations of the properly charge minimized potential energy surface (PES) and yield reveal that even-mass third fragments are more favored than odd ones. In the most probable configuration having the minimum in the potential energy and the maximum in yield, among the three fragments, at least one (or two) of the fragment(s) associates itself with the neutron (or proton) closed shell and in some cases even with the doubly closed shell. The calculated relative yields imply that next to ¹⁴C (the heaviest third fragment observed in the spontaneous ternary fission of ²⁵²Cf , ^{34, 36, 38}Si , ^{46, 48}Ar , and ^{48, 50}Ca are presenting themselves as the most favoured cases to be observed as the third particle in the spontaneous ternary fission of ²⁵²Cf .     

Multi-particle emission in 32S induced reactions on light targets

The properties of light particles emitted in ³²S induced reactions on ¹⁶O, ²⁷A1, ²⁸Si and ⁴⁰Ca were studied. The bombarding energies varied between 135 and 225 MeV. The experiment employed two large-area, position-sensitive ionization chambers to measure the heavy reaction fragments, whereas the light particles were treated as the undetected deficit of the reaction. The charge deficit increases linearly with the c.m. bombarding energy; the corresponding linear-momentum deficits in the event plane indicate that the sequential evaporation from both intermediate fragments is the dominant source of light particles.     

Étude de la dissipation d'énergie dans la fission de 234u à l'aide de la réaction 233U(d,pf)

The energy balance in the fission of ²³⁴U has been investigated on the basis of experimental results from the ²³³U(d, pf) reaction. Taking into account the neutron evaporation we have deduced the total kinetic energy and excitation energy distributions of the primary fragments as functions of the excitation energy of the fissioning nucleus. The neutron evaporation temperatures have been adjusted so as to reproduce the average value and width of the measured kinetic energy distributions for each fragmentation. Excitation energy distributions of the fragments have been deduced. The data are discussed in the framework of the liquid-drop model with shell corrections. Evidence for energy dissipation in the fission of ²³⁴U, involving drastic changes in the scission configuration, is shown for some fragmentation modes.     

32S-induced reactions at 10 MeV/u bombarding energy

The deep-inelastic processes of the reactions ³²S + ²⁸Si, ^natS, ⁴⁰Ca, ⁵⁸Ni, ⁷⁴Ge are studied at 10 MeV/u bombarding energy employing a kinematical coincidence spectrometer. From the measured energies, momenta, masses and atomic numbers of two heavy fragments the corresponding parameters for the unobserved reaction products and the reaction Q-values are deduced. It is found that the reactions generally show the pattern of a normal deep-inelastic process which is followed by the evaporation of several light particles. But with much less intensities other processes also seem to occur: three-fragment exit channels and incomplete energy damping which is correlated with the emission of a few light particles of high momenta.     

Neutron multiplicities in inelastic collisions of132Xe with197Au

Neutrons have been detected in coincidence with charged reaction products in inelastic scattering of 7.5 MeV/u¹³²Xe ions from¹⁹⁷Au. The deduced neutron multiplicities associated with the heavy and light fragment, respectively, are roughly proportional to the total kinetic energy loss, and their ratios are close to the Au-Xe mass ratio for allQ-values. These results and the measured neutron energy spectra are consistent with the assumptions of thermal equilibrium between the fragments at scission, and of neutron emission from fully accelerated fragments. For deep inelastic events, the measured absolute multiplicities are smaller than expected from statistical model calculations, but an effect due to pre-equilibrium emission of particles — as suggested by an earlier analysis of the present data [1] — cannot be definitely established.     

Shadowing of α-emitting fragments observed in 313 MeV32S+93Nb collisions

Energy- and angular correlations ofα particles in coincidence with deeply inelastic fragments from³²S+⁹³Nb reactions at 313 MeV were measured and the assumption of sequentialα emission from the fragments tested. In the direction of the detected light fragment too fewα particles from the heavy fragment are observed. This pronounced anomaly is ascribed to nuclear shadowing of theα particles by the proximate light fragment.