Fission ofU238induced by inelastic scattering of 120 MeVαparticles

Abstract

The fission decay of $^{238}\mathrm{U}$ has been measured as a function of excitation energy in inelastic scattering of 120 MeV $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ particles. Total kinetic energies and masses of fission fragments were measured by the double energy method. It is observed that the total kinetic energy ${E}_{K}$ decreases and that the valley in the mass distribution is reduced when the excitation energy of the system is increased. No indication of anomalous total kinetic energy release in the region of the giant quadrupole resonance has been found. A qualitative interpretation of the data is given on the basis of a static scission point model.NUCLEAR REACTIONS, FISSION $^{238}\mathrm{U}(\ensuremath{\alpha},{\ensuremath{\alpha}}^{\ensuremath{'}}f)$, $E=120$ MeV, ${\ensuremath{\theta}}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}}=16\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}$; measured total kinetic energy and fission fragment mass distributions as a function of excitation energy.