Fission Cross Sections and Fragment Mass Distribution of Actinide Nuclei Formed in n-Induced Reactions

Abstract

The fission dynamics of odd mass actinide nuclei, 233Th∗ and 239U∗ formed in n-induced reactions, is studied in the framework of dynamical cluster-decay model (DCM). The analysis is carried out over a range of incident energies varying from En = 32.8 to 59.9 MeV. A description of deformation effects is provided by considering spherical as well as deformed choice of fragmentation and the fragment mass distribution is examined accordingly. The study is extended to two more actinide nuclei (233Pa∗ and 239Np∗) and the barrier characteristics are compared for chosen reactions and corresponding preformation factor is worked out to estimate the relative influence on fragment mass distribution. In addition to this, the relative role of sticking (IS) and non-sticking (INS) moment of inertia on the decay of 233Th∗ is explored. Finally, the comparative analysis of n-induced reaction with p-induced reactions is carried out for Th and U nuclei.