Effects of T-odd asymmetry of the emission of light charged particles and photons during fission of heavy nuclei by polarized neutrons

Abstract

The new physical effects of T-odd asymmetry of the emission of light charged particles (LCPs) during the ternary fission of some heavy nuclei by cold polarized neutrons have been experimentally studied. The coefficients of triple scalar and vector correlation of the pulses of light particles and fission fragments (TRI effect) and the fivefold correlation of the same vectors (ROT effect) have been measured. These effects are believed to be caused by the rotation of polarized fissioning system around its polarization direction. The treatment of the experimental data for LCPs in the framework of this hypothesis leads to a good agreement between the calculation results and experimental data. The calculated value of the angle of rotation of the fission axis in the ternary fission of the polarized fissioning 236U* compound nucleus was used to process the results of measuring the ROT effect for γ photons from binary-fission fragments of the same nucleus. A satisfactory description of these experimental data is obtained which serves a convincing confirmation of the rotation hypothesis.