Shell effects in fission and quasi-fission reactions

Abstract

Quantum shell effects are responsible for asymmetric fission. They are also expected to affect the formation of fission fragments in quasi-fission reactions occurring in heavy-ion collisions. Systematic time-dependent Hartree-Fock simulations of 40–56Ca+176Yb collisions show that quasi-fission fragment properties share strong similarities with fragments formed in fission of the compound nuclei. This is an indication that similar shell effects are responsible for the final asymmtery in both mechanisms.