Across barrier fission analysis of At⁎ isotopes formed in 3,4,6,8He+209Bi reactions

Abstract

The fission decay mechanism of various 212,213,215,217At⁎ isotopes formed in tightly (3,4He) and loosely bound (6,8He) projectile induced reactions on 209Bi target, is studied within the framework of dynamical cluster-decay model (DCM), over a wide range of excitation energies spread across the Coulomb barrier. By optimizing appropriate neck-length parameter ΔR, the fission cross-sections are calculated for 212,213,215At⁎ compound nuclei (CN) at above barrier energies, where some experimental data is available. The DCM calculations are extended at below barrier region for these nuclei, and for one more reaction 8He+209Bi→217At⁎, using the systematics of 212,213,215At⁎ isotopes. The magnitude of fission cross-sections increase with the addition of neutrons in the He-projectile (or say in the At compound nucleus since the target nucleus of each reaction is same). To obtain better description of fission dynamics involved for neutron-deficient and neutron-rich He-induced reactions, the fragmentation potential and prefromation probability P0 of decaying fragments are analyzed along with corresponding barrier tunneling probability P. The fission fragment mass distributions are explored for all ‘At’ isotopes, and most probable fission fragments are identified. It has been observed that asymmetric fission forms the predominant decay mode for all isotopes, although a minor hump with very small preformation factor appears around symmetric fragments for lighter 212,213At⁎ nuclei. Finally, the N/Z dependence of fission cross-sections and most probable decaying fragments is explored in view of fragmentation structure and related cross-sectional yields.