On current ambiguity in the interpretation of fission at intermediate excitation energy

Abstract

Various approaches are currently used to interpret experimental data on fission. We critically examine a wide set of observables measured for fission of Po206,210 nuclei at medium excitation energy, and illustrate the ambiguity in current analysis. Dynamical calculations based on the four-dimensional Langevin equation using a macroscopic potential energy landscape are performed, and found to consistently describe available measurements. This observation calls into question the robustness of recent analysis based on statistical-model calculations and concluding, on the contrary, to substantial shell effects at the fission saddle point in Po206,210. The inconsistency in interpretation reached by the two approaches shows that, depending on the system, the conclusion can be strongly model-dependent. Although this may not be surprising, it emphasizes the today still limited reliability of firmly extracting fundamental nuclear properties from customary analysis.

Keywords

• Compound-nucleus fission
• Statistical and dynamical models
• Shell correction at saddle point