Fission of Pb in the He-induced reactions at 0.65–12.7 GeV

The fission processes from the interactions of 0.65, 1.74, 5.1, 8.8 and 12.7 GeV ⁴He with Pb have been analyzed using the polycarbonate track detector Makrofol in the form of a sandwich. The decay channels ending with one, two, or more (three, four) fragments were detected. We analyzed events in which only two heavy fragments (Z>20) are detected, irrespective of the existence of coincident intermediate mass fragments (8Z20). Using the correlation between the common observables which characterize fission events, we identified events originated from thermal (soft) fission and more violent processes. Cross sections, angular distributions and excitation energy have been determined for two fission mechanisms, and their variation as a function of the incident energy has been investigated.