Suppression of Neutron Emission after Heavy-Ion Fusion: Is Shape Relaxation Affected by a Superdeformed Minimum?

W. Kühn; P. Chowdhury; R. V. F. Janssens; T. L. Khoo; F. Haas; J. Kasagi; R. M. Ronningen

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.51.1858

Suppression of Neutron Emission after Heavy-Ion Fusion: Is Shape Relaxation Affected by a Superdeformed Minimum?

W. Kühn, P. Chowdhury, R. V. F. Janssens, T. L. Khoo, F. Haas, J. Kasagi, and R. M. Ronningen

Phys. Rev. Lett. 51, 1858 – Published 14 November 1983

Abstract

Neutron spectra as a function of spin and the neutron multiplicity distribution have been measured for the reaction 233-MeV ${}^{64}{Ni}$ + ${}^{92}{Zr}$ . The emission of two neutrons constitutes the strongest decay channel, in contrast to statistical-model calculations which predict the emission of three neutrons to be the strongest by more than one order of magnitude. This is possibly due to trapping in a superdeformed potential well, similar to that giving rise to fission isomers, as the compound nucleus relaxes from the highly distorted initial shape.

Received 26 April 1983

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.51.1858

Authors & Affiliations

W. Kühn^*, P. Chowdhury^†, R. V. F. Janssens, and T. L. Khoo

Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439

F. Haas^‡, J. Kasagi^§, and R. M. Ronningen

National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824

^*Present address: II. Physikalisches Institut, Universität Giessen, West Germany.
^†Present address: Niels-Bohr Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark.
^‡Permanent address: Centre de Recherche Nucléaire Strasbourg, France.
^§Present address: Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan.