Ternary Fission of Heavy Compound Nuclei in Thorite Track Detectors

Abstract

A thorite (ThSi${\mathrm{O}}_{4}$) track detector has been used to study fission induced by reactions between 400-MeV Ar ions and Th nuclei in the detector. Both binary and ternary fissions were observed. The cross section for binary fission is 3.0\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.4 b. The angular distribution of fragments from the ternary fissions indicates compound-nucleus formation. The cross section for ternary fission is approximately 1/30 of that for binary fission.