Mass and charge distributions in iron-induced reactions and excitation energy division between the fragments of the 672-MeV [sup 56]Fe + [sup 165]Ho reaction

Abstract

The projectile-like and target-like fragments produced by the 12-MeV/nucleon [sup 56]Fe + [sup 165]Ho reaction were detected in coincidence. The measured parameters were the mass, charge, kinetic energy scattering angle of the projectile-like fragments, and the scattering angle of the target-like fragments. The mass and charge distributions of the projectile-like fragments were generated as a function of energy loss, and characterized by their centroids, variances, and correlation coefficients. The neutron drift of the measured projectile-like products is mostly due to evaporative processes, while the charge drift is a result of a net transfer of protons from the projectile-like fragment to the target-like fragment. The result is a weak drift of the system towards mass asymmetry. The predictions of two nucleon exchange models are compared to the experimental results of the 672-MeV [sup 56]Fe + [sup 165]Ho reaction and other Fe-induced reactions. The fairly good agreement between the experimental and theoretical variances verifies the prevalence of a nucleon exchange mechanism in these reactions. The information from the coincidence measurement and two-body kinematics are used to reconstruct the pre-evaporation masses of the projectile-like and target-like fragments of the reaction. Statistical evaporation calculations are used to translate these masses into excitation energies ofmore » the primary fragments. The ratio of excitation energy stored in the projectile-Mm fragment decreases with increasing energy loss, in qualitative agreement with previous measurements; however, higher ratios are observed for the 672-MeV [sup 56]Fe on [sup 165]Ho system.« less