Statistical model calculation of the compound nuclear fission timescale in fusion-fission reactions

Abstract

In the decay of an excited heavy nucleus, both the fission or evaporation residue (ER) cross sections and the fission time are determined by the competition between the various evaporation channels and fission. Statistical model (SM) calculations for several heavy-ion-induced fusion-fission reactions are presented which reproduce the fission or ER excitation functions. The corresponding calculated fission times are found to depend upon the compound nuclei and their excitation energies. The multichance fission probabilities and the corresponding fission times are also obtained, and they are shown to depend sensitively on the shell correction energies and the neutron separation energies of the compound nuclei involved. The experimental neutron multiplicities are reproduced by adjusting the saddle-to-scission transition time interval. An additional delay time for compound nuclear formation is found necessary to fit the experimental neutron multiplicities for a system with higher entrance channel mass symmetry.