Fission induced in natU, natPb, 197Au, and 165Ho by 80 and 100 MeV pi + and pi -

Abstract

Solid state nuclear track detectors having different detection thresholds have been employed to study the fission fragments and the light charged particles emitted in the interaction of 80 and 100 MeV ${\ensuremath{\pi}}^{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}$ with targets of $^{\mathrm{nat}}\mathrm{U}$, $^{\mathrm{nat}}\mathrm{Pb}$, $^{197}\mathrm{Au}$, and $^{164}\mathrm{Ho}$. Cross sections for the production of correlated fission fragments (and other heavy charged particles) and the unpaired single charged particles were obtained in different Z and Z/\ensuremath{\beta} domains. Energies and masses of the reaction products are estimated. Angular correlations of the reaction products have also been obtained. A large fraction of protons and (to a lesser extent) alpha particles are found to be emitted in these interactions. It has been found that distributions of the fission fragments are only slightly anisotropic and that their mass distributions are wider than those obtained for nucleon-induced fission having similar excitation energies. The results have been compared with the scanty data available on the subject and with systems having comparable excitation energies.