J. L. Rodriguez-Sanchez

Fission dynamics at high excitation energies investigated in complete kinematics measurements

Light-charged particles emitted in proton-induced fission reactions on 208 Pb have been measured at different kinetic energies: 370A, 500A, and 650A MeV. The experiment was performed by the SOFIA collaboration at the GSI facilities in Darmstadt (Germany). The inverse kinematics technique was combined with a setup especially designed to measure light-charged particles in coincidence with fission fragments. The data were compared with different model calculations to assess the ground-to-saddle dynamics. The results confirm that transient and dissipative effects are required for an accurate description of the fission observables.

New experimental approaches to investigate the fission dynamics

The first ever achieved full identification of both fission fragments, in atomic and mass number, made it possible to define new observables sensitive to the fission dynamics along the fission path up to the scission point. Moreover, proton-induced fission of 208Pb at high energies offers optimal conditions for the investigation of dissipative, and transient effects, because of the high-excitation energy of the fissioning nuclei, its low angular momentum, and limited shape distortion by the reaction. In this work we show that the charge distribution of the final fission fragments can constrain the ground-to-saddle dynamics while the mass distribution is sensitive to the dynamics until the scission point.