Fission of 238U investigated using proton-induced knockout collisions in inverse kinematics

Abstract

This study is about nuclear fission, discovered in 1939 by Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn. In the research presented in this work, the quasi-free (p, 2p) reactions are combined for the first time with the study of fission in inverse kinematics, using state-ofthe- art detectors developed by the R3B (Reactions with Relativistic Radioactive Beams) collaboration. To do so, uranium beams (238) are accelerated to impinge on a liquid hydrogen target at 540 MeV/u. This novel experimental technique would provide full kinematics measurements by obtaining the excitation energy for the fissioning nuclei and identifying the mass, charge, and kinetic energy of the two fission fragments simultaneously. The versatility of this technique allows the study of characteristic fission phenomena at both low and high excitation energies.