Electrofission of238U and232Th

Absolute electrofission cross sections for²³⁸U and²³²Th in the energy regionE _e =7 ?65 MeV and fission fragment angular distributions forE _e =7–30 MeV have been measured. The angular distributions show strong anisotropies for low energies. The relative dipole and quadrupole contributions as a function of excitation energy are discussed in terms of the low lying fission transition states above the fission barriers. The cross sections show significant deviations from the results of some earlier measurements, in particular in the energy region above the giant dipole resonance. From the difficulties of absolute electrofission cross section measurements and the ambiguities in their interpretation it is concluded that by this time the quantitative analysis of electrofission cross sections with respect to the contributions of the giant quadrupole resonances to the fission decay channel should be regarded as rather tentative.     

Electromagnetic fission of238U at 600 and 1000 MeV per nucleon

Electromagnetic fission of²³⁸U projectiles at E/A =600 and 1000 MeV was studied with the ALADIN spectrometer at the heavy-ion synchrotron SIS. Seven different targets (Be, C, Al, Cu, In, Au and U) were used. By considering only those fission events where the two charges added up to 92, most of the nuclear interactions were excluded. The nuclear contributions to the measured fission cross sections were determined by extrapolating from beryllium to the heavier targets with the concept of factorization. The obtained cross sections for electromagnetic fission are well reproduced by extended Weizsäcker-Williams calculations which include E1 and E2 excitations. The asymmetry of the fission fragments' charge distribution gives evidence for the excitation of the double giant-dipole resonance in uranium.Communicated by V. Metag     

Study of the fission decay of the isoscalar monopole resonance via the 238U(α, α′) reaction at 0°

The fission decay of ²³⁸U has been investigated using inelastic scattering of 120 MeV ga-particles to excite the ²³⁸U nucleus. Angular correlations of the fission fragments have been measured for excitation energies between 5.7 and 15.7 MeV in coincidence with inelastically scattered α-particles between 0 and 3°. The difference in yield for fission in coincidence with inelastically scattered α-particles between 0–1.35° and 1.35–3° was used to deduce the fission decay of the giant monopole resonance. It was found that in the fission decay channel (22 ± 5)% of the E0 EWSR strength is located between 8 and 15 MeV excitation energy. The distribution of the deduced monopole strength is in agreement with recent theoretical calculations predicting splitting of the giant monopole resonance in deformed nuclei.     

The study of the (α, α'f) reaction at 120 MeV on 232Th and 238U: (I). Fission probabilities and angular distributions in the region of the giant quadrupole resonances

The fission decay channel of ²³²Th and ²³⁸U has been investigated, using the (α, α'f) reaction at 120 MeV bombarding energy. The angular distributions of the fission fragments and the fission probabilities up to around 15 MeV excitation have been measured. No evidence for the fission decay of the giant quadrupole resonance has been found, although for ²³⁸U, a weakly excited structure is seen in the (α, α'f) spectrum at about 9.5 MeV excitation at backward angles with respect to the recoil axis. This effect is similar to what has been found in a (⁶Li, ⁶Li'f) experiment reported recently. The over-all feature of the fission probability for excitation energies above the fission barrier are well reproduced by statistical calculations.     

Evidence for pygmy and giant dipole resonances in 130Sn and 132Sn

The dipole strength distribution above the one-neutron separation energy was measured in the unstable 130Sn and the double-magic 132Sn isotopes. The results were deduced from Coulomb dissociation of secondary Sn beams with energies around 500 MeV/nucleon, produced by in-flight fission of a primary 238U beam. In addition to the giant dipole resonance, a resonancelike structure ("pygmy resonance") is observed at a lower excitation energy around 10 MeV exhausting a few percent of the isovector E1 energy-weighted sum rule. The results are discussed in the context of a predicted new dipole mode of excess neutrons oscillating out of phase with the core nucleons.     

Abrupt changes of the characteristics of the proton-induced fission of238U around 14-MeV excitation

An experiment combining the conventional radio-chemical stacked target technique and rapid measurements using a gas-jet transport system were carried out with a purpose of precise determination of charge dispersion and distribution for the proton-induced fission of²³⁸U at two incident energies of 9.4 and 12.4 MeV. We determined the charge dispersion width as 1.01±0.05 charge unit at 17.9-MeV excitation and 0.70±0.04 charge unit except for the symmetric mass region at 14.8-MeV excitation. Fundamental differences were found also in the mass distribution characteristics between 17.9-MeV and 14.8-MeV excitations. This abrupt change of the fission characteristics strongly supports the existence of different fission mechanisms below and above around 14-MeV excitation.     

Investigation of 238U in the (n,n′γ) reaction

An irradiation of ²³⁸U with a beam of reactor fast neutrons permits revealing about 550 gamma transitions associated with the respective (n, n′γ) reaction and with fission fragments. The use of all known data on gamma radiation from fission fragments makes it possible to identify gamma transitions belonging to ²³⁸U with a high probability. The scheme of levels and gamma transitions is composed for ²³⁸U. New levels (including those of spin-parity J ^π = 0⁺) at excitation energies below 2 MeV are proposed. The low-lying levels in the rotational band for two-phonon octupole excitations are determined. It is found that a hybrid state is formed upon the crossing of this band and the band based on two-quasiparticle excitations. This hybrid state must involve excitations of both types. A small value of the rotational-band parameter in the isomer of energy 2559.0(4) keV is explained by the contribution to this state from two-quasiparticle configurations belonging to the 1k _17/2 subshell. The same circumstance may also be responsible for an enhanced yield of ternary fission for this isomer.     

Sub-Coulomb transfer and fission in collisions of129Xe,132Xe and136Xe with238U

Integral cross sections for fission and for one- and two-neutron transfer reactions in the system¹³²Xe+²³⁸U were measured radiochemically in the energy range 0.7≦E/E _Coul≦1. The excitation functions for fission and transfer are found to be essentially parallel below 0.85×E _Coul. Even at the lowest energies the transfer cross sections exceed the fission cross section by more than one order of magnitude. With the other projectiles¹²⁹Xe and¹³⁶Xe different transfer cross sections illustrating their sensitivity for the ground stateQ-values,Q _gg , are observed while the fission cross sections are the same as in the¹³²Xe +²³⁸U reaction. The fission data are interpreted in terms of a continuous transition between Coulomb fission and several transfer-induced fission processes.     

Cross section for the subthreshold fission of 236U

The cross section for ²³⁶U fission in the neutron-energy range E _n = 0.001–20 keV was measured by using the INR RAS (Institute of Nuclear Research, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow) LSDS-100 neutron spectrometer of the lead slowing-down spectrometer type. The resonance fission areas of the resonances at 5.45 eV and 1.28 keV were found, and the fission widths of these resonances were evaluated. The cross section for the ²³⁸U(n, f) fission process was measured, and the threshold sensitivity of the LSDS-100 to small values of fission cross sections was estimated. The well-known intermediate structure in the cross section for the neutron-induced subbarrier fission of ²³⁶U was confirmed.     

Identification of Vibrational States in 230T（n,f） Reaction

The excitation function for the fission of 230Th induced by neutrons has an unusual maximum for neutron energies in the vicinity of 700KeV,It has been suggested that this maximum may be associated with the vibrational-mode resonance states,The unusual peak in the excitation function is interpreted in terms of a vibrational-model resonance state in a two-humpted fission barrier.From theoretical fits to the fission cross sections and angular distributions,it is shown that the resonance has K=1/2.     

A comparative study of the electric giant dipole resonance of 24−26Mg

The electric giant dipole resonance of ^24?26Mg has been explored up to 30 MeV excitation energy with bremsstrahlung. ΔE, E spectra of charged photo-particles and spectra of prompt deexcitation γ-rays from excited residual nuclear states were obtained at various bremsstrahlung endpoint energies. The ²⁵Mg(γ, p₀), (γ, d), ^24,25Mg(γ, α) differential cross sections as well as ^24?26Mg(γ, xγ′) integrated cross sections are presented. The results are discussed in terms of one-particle, one-hole excitations and isospin composition of giant resonance states. A comparison with calculations for ²⁴Mg gives poor agreement. Excitations from deeper shells were found in the giant dipole resonance of ²⁴Mg, but do not seem to be concentrated at higher energies. In ²⁵Mg, only weak excitations of this kind were found, and they are completely absent in ²⁶Mg.     

Coulomb excitation of double giant dipole resonances

We implement the Brink–Axel hypothesis for the excitation of the double giant dipole resonance (DGDR): the background states which couple to the one-phonon giant dipole resonance are themselves capable of dipole absorption. These states (and the ones which couple to the two-phonon resonance) are described in terms of the gaussian orthogonal ensemble of random matrices. We use second-order time-dependent perturbation theory and calculate analytically the ensemble-averaged cross section for excitation of the DGDR. Numerical calculations illuminate the mechanism and the dependence of the cross section on the various parameters of the theory, and are specifically performed for the reaction ²⁰⁸Pb + ²⁰⁸Pb at a projectile energy of 640 MeV/nucleon. We show that the contribution of the background states to the excitation of the DGDR is significant. We find that the width of the DGDR, the energy-integrated cross section and the ratio of this quantity over the energy-integrated cross section for the single giant dipole resonance, all agree with experiment within experimental errors. We compare our approach with that of Carlson et al. who have used a similar physical picture.     

Influence of damping on the excitation of the double giant resonance

We study the effect of the spreading widths on the excitation probabilities of the double giant dipole resonance. We solve the coupled-channels equations for the excitation of the giant dipole resonance and the double giant dipole resonance. Taking Pb+Pb collisions as example, we study the resulting effect on the excitation amplitudes, and cross sections as a function of the width of the states and of the bombarding energy. Received: 13 July 1999     

Light charged particle emission and fission in238U+238U collisions at 1,740 MeV

Inclusive⁴He and⁴H energy spectra and heavy fragment coincidence correlations have been measured for reactions of 7.31 MeV/u²³⁸U with²³⁸U and^?197Au targets. The H/He production cross sections are in the range 15–26 mb, and their emission spectra are very similar for the two systems. The observed strong kinematic shifts with angle are reproduced in shape and magnitude by Monte Carlo simulations of particle evaporation from projectile-like and target-like fragments, indicating competition between charged particle emission and sequential fission. No evidence is found for high energy charged particle emission associated with ultra-highZ composite systems. Heavy fragment measurements indicate an abundance of quasielastic and deeply inelastic reaction fragments, as well as sequential fission of target and projectile nuclei. For²³⁸U nuclei, the fission occurs predominantly in an asymmetric mode, reminiscent of fission at low excitation energy. For²³⁸+²³⁸U reactions in the vicinity of the grazing angle, the frequency of single sequential fission (with survival of the partner fragment) is twice as large as double sequential fission in which both the target and projectile undergo fission. In²³⁸U+¹⁹⁷Au reactions, the survival probability of the heavy fragments is even greater. The surprisingly high survival probabilities of high-Z fragments imply a preponderance of very soft collisions in these very-heavy-ion reactions, at least at energies not very far over the Coulomb barrier.     

238U photofission in the energy region of the giant dipole resonance

²³⁸U photofission is studied in the region of nuclear excitation energies that extends up to 20 MeV. Independent photofission-fragment yields and cumulative photofission-fragment yields after the emission of fast neutrons are measured by gamma-spectroscopy methods. The mass distributions of photofission fragments are obtained at the endpoint bremsstrahlung energies of 19.5, 29.1, 48.3, and 67.7 MeV. A comparative analysis of the behavior of the symmetric and asymmetric modes of photoninduced fission as a function of the average excitation energy of the fissioning nucleus is performed. The integrated yield of ²³⁸U photofission is calculated, and the evaluated cross sections for photofission and for photoneutron reactions are discussed.     

Photofission of 238Pu, 240Pu, and 242Pu in the energy range 5–10 MeV

The cross sections for the photofission of plutonium isotopes ²³⁸Pu, ²⁴⁰Pu, and ²⁴²Pu in the energy range 5–10 MeV have been measured by using a beam of bremsstrahlung photons from the microtron installed at the Institute of Physics and Power Engineering (Obninsk). The energy regions below the fission barrier and above 6 MeV have been scanned with pitches of 0.05 and 0.1 MeV, respectively. In deriving the absolute cross section for ²³⁸Pu photofission, ²³⁸U photofission has been employed as a reference reaction. In measurements involving ²⁴⁰Pu and ²⁴²Pu nuclei, the neptunium isotope ²³⁷Np, which is characterized by a more regular dependence of the photofission cross section on excitation energy than ²³⁸U, has been chosen for the first time as a reference nucleus. The measured cross sections as functions of energy show resonance structures in the vicinity of the fission threshold that are consistent with those previously observed in the energy dependences of fissilities for corresponding direct reactions. The partial-wave cross sections for the J ^π K = 1^?0, 1^?1, and 2⁺0 photofission channels have been determined as functions of energy. At energies below some 5.5 MeV, the total cross section for photofission of each plutonium isotope being studied receives a significant contribution from quadrupole interaction. Within the one-dimensional model of a two-humped fission barrier, the parameters of the barriers for ²³⁸Pu, ²⁴⁰Pu, and ²⁴²Pu have been extracted from data and have then been compared with estimates based on previous measurements.     

Fission in238U+238U collisions below the Coulomb barrier

Integral fission cross sections in the system²³⁸U+²³⁸U were measured at beam energies below the interaction barrierV _C. Scattering angle dependent probabilities and integral cross sections for Coulomb fission were calculated. It is concluded that earlier observed discrepancies between measured and calculated angular distributions for the one-neutron transfer product²³⁹U cannot be explained by sequential fission. Multi-nucleon transfer induced fission is observed down to energies (0.90±0.02)×V_C.     

Relative measurements of photofission cross sections with the use of a bremsstrahlung spectrum

This survey is devoted to the investigation of fission probability by measuring photofission yields using a bremsstrahlung spectrum of the microtron with the relative measurement method in the region of energies from the threshold to the upper boundary of the fissility plateau (E < 11 MeV). The results were obtained using a unique technique for nineteen nuclei from ²³²Th to ²⁴⁹Cf. For some nuclei in the threshold energy region, detailed measurements were performed which provided the possibility of observation of new resonances in the photofission cross section. The observed resonance effects are discussed. For ²³⁴U and ^{238, 240, 242}Pu, theoretical analysis was performed to obtain the fission barrier parameters for fission channels with particular quantum states. Data of other measurements of photofission cross sections are given, along with the results obtained in the surveyed series of measurements. The data obtained using the relative measurement method is compared with data for other reactions that result in fission of the nuclei under study.