Search for stabilizing effects of $\mathbf{Z}=82$ shell closure against fission

Abstract

Presence of closed proton and/or neutron shells causes deviation from macroscopic properties of nuclei which are understood in terms of the liquid drop model. It is important to investigate experimentally the stabilizing effects of shell closure, if any, against fission. This work aims to investigate probable effects of proton shell ($Z=82$) closure in the compound nucleus, in enhancing survival probability of the evaporation residues formed in heavy ion-induced fusion-fission reactions. Evaporation residue cross sections have been measured for the reactions ${}^{19}$F+${}^{180}$Hf, ${}^{19}$F+${}^{181}$Ta and ${}^{19}$F+${}^{182}$W from $\simeq 9\%$ below to $\simeq 42\%$ above the Coulomb barrier, leading to formation of compound nuclei with same number of neutrons ($N=118$) but different number of protons across $Z=82$. Measured excitation functions have been compared with statistical model calculation, in which reduced dissipation coefficient is the only adjustable parameter. Evaporation residue cross section, normalized by capture cross section, is found to decrease gradually with increasing fissility of the compound nucleus. Measured evaporation residue cross sections require inclusion of nuclear viscosity in the model calculations. Reduced dissipation coefficient in the range of 1\textendash3 $\times$ $10^{21}$ s${}^{-1}$ reproduces the data quite well. No abrupt enhancement of evaporation residue cross sections has been observed in the reaction forming compound nucleus with $Z=82$. Thus, this work does not find enhanced stabilizing effects of $Z=82$ shell closure against fission in the compound nucleus. One may attempt to measure cross sections of individual exit channels for further confirmation of our observation.

arXiv comment8 pages, 3 fugures

References in corpus (9)

• A program for coupled-channels calculations with all order couplings for heavy-ion fusion reactions
• Statistical Model of Heavy-Ion Fusion-Fission Reactions
• Influence of entrance-channel magicity and isospin on quasi-fission
• Prescission neutron multiplicity and fission probability from Langevin dynamics of nuclear fission
• Direct Evidence of Washing out of Nuclear Shell Effects
• Quasifission and difference in formation of evaporation residues in the ${}^{16}$O+${}^{184}$W and ${}^{19}$F+${}^{181}$Ta reactions
• Alleviating the inconsistencies in modelling decay of fissile compound nuclei
• Quest for consistent modelling of statistical decay of the compound nucleus
• Fission fragment mass distributions in reactions populating 200Pb