Statistical model calculations of pre-scission neutron multiplicity for the heavy ion induced fusion-fission reactions with actinide target 232Th

Abstract

The reaction mechanism of 19F + 232Th and 28Si + 232Th systems populating the near-super-heavy compound nuclei 251Es and 260Rf respectively are investigated using neutron multiplicity as a probe. The prescission neutron multiplicities of these compound nuclei are calculated at different excitation energies using a statistical model code. These calculations are performed using the Bohr-Wheeler transition state fission width as well as the dissipative dynamical fission width based on the Kramers’ prescription. For 19F + 232Th system, the measured yield of pre-scission is compared with the statistical model calculations for the decay of a compound nucleus in the excitation energy range of 54-90 MeV. The comparison between the measured and the calculated values indicates that the Bohr-Wheeler fission width underestimates the pre-scission neutron yield and a large amount of dissipation strength is required to reproduce the experimental pre-scission neutron multiplicities. The excitation energy dependence of the fitted values of the dissipation coefficient is also discussed. In addition, exploratory statistical model calculations of pre-scission neutron multiplicity for the 28Si + 232Th system are presented in the above range of excitation energy.