Experimental Evidence for Dynamical Decay of Finite Nuclear Matter

Abstract

Ternary fission in the reaction ${}^{12}\mathrm{C}{+}^{232}\mathrm{Th}$ at ${E}_{\mathrm{lab}}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}22A\mathrm{MeV}$ reveals evidence for dynamical decay. The relative emission probability of intermediate-mass fragments (IMF: $3\ensuremath{\le}Z\ensuremath{\le}20$) as a function of the initial excitation of the composite system is examined. While IMFs emitted pre-scission exhibit behavior consistent with statistical emission, near-scission IMFs, characterized by unique angular and energy distributions, clearly exhibit a behavior consistent with dynamical decay.