154 research outputs found
Fragmentation of spherical radioactive heavy nuclei as a novel probe of transient effects in fission
Peripheral collisions with radioactive heavy-ion beams at relativistic
energies are discussed as an innovative approach for probing the transient
regime experienced by fissile systems evolving towards quasi-equilibrium. A
dedicated experiment using the advanced technical installations of GSI,
Darmstadt, permitted to realize ideal conditions for the investigation of
relaxation effects in the meta-stable well. Combined with a highly sensitive
experimental signature, it provides a measure of the transient effects with
respect to the flux over the fission barrier. Within a two-step reaction
process, 45 proton-rich unstable spherical isotopes produced by
projectile-fragmentation of a stable 238U beam have been used as secondary
projectiles. The fragmentation of the radioactive projectiles on lead results
in nearly spherical compound nuclei which span a wide range in excitation
energy and fissility. The decay of these excited systems by fission is studied
with a dedicated set-up which permits the detection of both fission products in
coincidence and the determination of their atomic numbers with high resolution.
The width of the fission-fragment nuclear charge distribution is shown to be
specifically sensitive to pre-saddle transient effects and is used to establish
a clock for the passage of the saddle point. The comparison of the experimental
results with model calculations points to a fission delay of (3.3+/-0.7).10-21s
for initially spherical compound nuclei, independent of excitation energy and
fissility. This value suggests a nuclear dissipation strength at small
deformation of (4.5+/-0.5).1021s-1. The very specific combination of the
physics and technical equipment exploited in this work sheds light on previous
controversial conclusions.Comment: 38 pages, 15 figure
Dispersion of longitudinal momentum distributions induced in fragmentation reactions
On the basis of systematic measurements of fragmentation reactions, which
provide a detailed overview on the velocity distributions of residual nuclei,
an improved description of the kinematical properties of the fragmentation
residues is established. This work is dedicated to the fluctuations of their
momentum distributions. In contrast to previous investigations, limited to
close-to-projectile fragments, we extended our study to the entire production
range, down to the lightest observed fragments. In this context, beside the
contribution of abrasion and evaporation processes, we considered the effect of
the thermal break-up on the width of the momentum distributions. Using
approximated theoretical descriptions of the different reaction stages, a new
analytical formula for the variance of the momentum distribution is derived,
which is well adapted to technical applications.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, background info. at
http://www-wnt.gsi.de/charms
Origin of the even-odd effect in the yields from high-energy reactions
The analysis of experimental production cross-sections of the light products of several nuclear reactions at high energy, measured at the FRS, GSI Darmstadt, revealed a very strong and complex even-odd staggering. The origin of this effect is related to the condensation process of heated nuclear matter while cooling down in the last evaporation step. The characteristics of the staggering correlate strongly with the lowest particle separation energy of the final experimentally observed nuclei. The study confirms the important role of the deexcitation process in fragmentation reactions, and indicates that sequential decay strongly influences the yields of light fragments, which are often used to extract information on the nature of nuclear reactions at high energies
R-process nucleosynthesis calculations with complete nuclear physics input
The r-process constitutes one of the major challenges in nuclear
astrophysics. Its astrophysical site has not yet been identified but there is
observational evidence suggesting that at least two possible sites should
contribute to the solar system abundance of r-process elements and that the
r-process responsible for the production of elements heavier than Z=56 operates
quite robustly producing always the same relative abundances. From the
nuclear-physics point of view the r-process requires the knowledge of a large
number of reaction rates involving exotic nuclei. These include neutron capture
rates, beta-decays and fission rates, the latter for the heavier nuclei
produced in the r-process. We have developed for the first time a complete
database of reaction rates that in addition to neutron-capture rates and
beta-decay half-lives includes all possible reactions that can induce fission
(neutron-capture, beta-decay and spontaneous fission) and the corresponding
fission yields. In addition, we have implemented these reaction rates in a
fully implicit reaction network. We have performed r-process calculations for
the neutrino-driven wind scenario to explore whether or not fission can
contribute to provide a robust r-process pattern
Experimental study of fragmentation products in the reactions 112Sn + 112Sn and 124Sn + 124Sn at 1 AGeV
Production cross-sections and longitudinal velocity distributions of the
projectile-like residues produced in the reactions 112Sn + 112Sn and 124Sn +
124Sn both at an incident beam energy of 1 AGeV were measured with the
high-resolution magnetic spectrometer, the Fragment Separator (FRS) of GSI. For
both reactions the characteristics of the velocity distributions and nuclide
production cross sections were determined for residues with atomic number Z
10. A comparison of the results of the two reactions is presented.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figure
Production of neutron-rich nuclei in fragmentation reactions of 132Sn projectiles at relativistic energies
The fragmentation of neutron-rich 132Sn nuclei produced in the fission of
238U projectiles at 950 MeV/u has been investigated at the FRagment Separator
(FRS) at GSI. This work represents the first investigation of fragmentation of
medium-mass radioactive projectiles with a large neutron excess. The measured
production cross sections of the residual nuclei are relevant for the possible
use of a two-stage reaction scheme (fission+fragmentation) for the production
of extremely neutron-rich medium-mass nuclei in future rare-ion-beam
facilities. Moreover, the new data will provide a better understanding of the
"memory" effect in fragmentation reactions.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Constraint of the Nuclear Dissipation Coefficient in Fission of Hypernuclei
Experimental studies of nuclear fission induced by fusion, transfer,
spallation, fragmentation, and electromagnetic reactions in combination with
state-of-the-art calculations are successful to investigate the nuclear
dissipation mechanism in normal nuclear matter, containing only nucleons. The
dissipation mechanism has been widely studied by the use of many different
fission observables and nowadays the dissipation coefficients involved in
transport theories are well constrained. However, the existence of hypernuclei
and the possible presence of hyperons in neutron stars make it necessary to
extend the investigation of the nuclear dissipation coefficient to the
strangeness sector. In this Letter, we use fission reactions of hypernuclei to
constrain for the first time the dissipation coefficient in hypernuclear
matter, observing that this coefficient increases a factor of 6 in presence of
a single -hyperon with respect to normal nuclear matter.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure
Experimental Indications for the Response of the Spectators to the Participant Blast
Precise momentum distributions of identified projectile fragments, formed in
the reactions 238U + Pb and 238U + Ti at 1 A GeV, are measured with a
high-resolution magnetic spectrometer. With increasing mass loss, the
velocities first decrease as expected from previously established systematics,
then level off, and finally increase again. Light fragments are on the average
even faster than the projectiles. This finding is interpreted as the response
of the spectators to the participant blast. The re-acceleration of projectile
spectators is sensitive to the nuclear mean field and provides a new tool for
investigating the equation of state of nuclear matter.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, background information on
http://www-wnt.gsi.de/kschmidt
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