Coherent bremsstrahlung and GDR width from 252Cf cold fission

Abstract

The energy spectrum of the high energy γ-rays in coincidence with the prompt γ-rays has been measured for the spontaneous fission of 252Cf. The nucleus–nucleus coherent bremsstrahlung of the accelerating fission fragments is observed and the result has been substantiated with a theoretical calculation based on the Coulomb acceleration model. The width of the giant dipole resonance (GDR) decay from the excited fission fragments has been extracted for the first time and compared with the thermal shape fluctuation model (TSFM) in the liquid drop formalism. The extracted GDR width is significantly smaller than the predictions of TSFM.