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Nuclear fission is still one of the most complex physical processes we can observe in nature due to the interplay of macroscopic and microscopic nuclear properties that decide the result. An example of this coupling is the presence of nuclear dissipation as an important ingredient that contributes to drive the dynamics and has a clear impact on the time of the process. However, different theoretical interpretations, and scarce experimental data make it poorly understood. In this letter, we present the first experimental determination of the dissipation energy in fission as a function of the fragment split, for three different fissioning systems. The amount of dissipation was obtained through the measurement of the relative production of fragments with even and odd atomic numbers with respect to different initial fission energies. The results reveal a clear effect of particular nuclear shells on the dissipation and fission dynamics. In addition, the relative production of fragments with even and odd atomic numbers appears as a potential contributor to the long-standing problem of the time scale in fission.

The energy loss of heavy ions in thin Mylar and nickel foils was measured accurately using fission fragments from $^{239}Pu(n_{th},f)$, mass and energy separated by the Lohengrin separator at ILL. The detection setup, placed at the focal plane of the Lohengrin separator enabled to measure precisely the kinetic energy difference of selected fragments after passing through the sample. From these data, the stopping powers in Mylar and nickel layers were extracted and compared to calculations. Whereas large deviations are observed with SRIM-2013 for Mylar, fairly good agreements are obtained with the semi-empirical approach of Knyazheva et al. and the calculations contained within the DPASS database. In nickel, SRIM-2013 and Knyazheva model are in agreement with our data within about 10 %, while large deviations are observed with DPASS. We used our data to provide updated parameters for the Knyazheva et al. model and rescale DPASS database for nickel and Mylar., Comment: 19 pages, 18 figures

Inelastic and multi-nucleon transfer reactions between a $^{238}$U beam, accelerated at 6.14 MeV/u, and a $^{12}$C target were used for the production of neutron-rich, fissioning systems from U to Cm. A Si telescope, devoted to the detection of the target-like nuclei, provided a characterization of the fissioning systems in atomic and mass numbers, as well as in excitation energy. Cross-sections, angular and excitation-energy distributions were measured for the inelastic and transfer channels. Possible excitations of the target-like nuclei were experimentally investigated for the first time, by means of g -ray measurements. The decays from the first excited states of $^{12}$C, $^{11}$B and $^{10}$Be were observed with probabilities of 0.12 - 0.14, while no evidence for the population of higher-lying states was found. Moreover, the fission probabilities of $^{238}$U, $^{239}$Np and $^{240,241,242}$Pu and $^{244}$Cm were determined as a function of the excitation energy., Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures

The nucleosynthesis of elements beyond iron is dominated by neutron captures in the s and r processes. However, 32 stable, proton-rich isotopes cannot be formed during those processes, because they are shielded from the s-process flow and r-process beta-decay chains. These nuclei are attributed to the p and rp process. For all those processes, current research in nuclear astrophysics addresses the need for more precise reaction data involving radioactive isotopes. Depending on the particular reaction, direct or inverse kinematics, forward or time-reversed direction are investigated to determine or at least to constrain the desired reaction cross sections. The Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) will offer unique, unprecedented opportunities to investigate many of the important reactions. The high yield of radioactive isotopes, even far away from the valley of stability, allows the investigation of isotopes involved in processes as exotic as the r or rp processes., Comment: Invited Talk given at the Conference Nuclear Physice in Astrophysics VI (NPA6), Lisbon, Portugal, May 19-24 2013. To appear in the NPA6 Proceedings in Journal of Physics: Conference Series (JPCS)

A previous analysis of the charge (Z) correlations in the $\Delta Z-$ plane for Xe+Sn central collisions at 32 MeV/u has shown an enhancement in the production of equally sized fragments (low $\Delta Z$) which was interpreted as an evidence for spinodal decomposition. However the signal is weak and rises the question of the estimation of the uncorrelated yield. After a critical analysis of its robustness, we propose in this paper a new technique to build the uncorrelated yield in the charge correlation function. The application of this method to Xe+Sn central collision data at 32, 39, 45 and 50 MeV/u does not show any particular enhancement of the correlation function in any $\Delta Z$ bin., Comment: 23 pages, 9 figures, revised version with an added figure and minor changes. To appear in Nuclear Physics A

Invariant transverse-velocity spectra of intermediate-mass fragments were measured with the 4-pi multi-detector system INDRA for collisions of Au on Au at incident energies between 40 and 150 MeV per nucleon. Their scaling properties as a function of incident energy and atomic number Z are used to distinguish and characterize the emissions in (i) peripheral collisions at the projectile and target rapidities, and in (ii) central and (iii) peripheral collisions near mid-rapidity. The importance of dynamical effects is evident in all three cases and their origin is discussed., Comment: 4 pages, 3 eps figures, RevTeX4, submitted to Phys. Rev

The quasi-projectile (QP) properties are investigated in the Ar+Ni collisions at 95 A.MeV taking into account the intermediate velocity emission. Indeed, in this reaction, between 52 and 95 A.MeV bombarding energies, the number of particles emitted in the intermediate velocity region is related to the overlap volume between projectile and target. Mean transverse energies of these particles are found particularly high. In this context, the mass of the QP decreases linearly with the impact parameter from peripheral to central collisions whereas its excitation energy increases up to 8 A.MeV. These results are compared to previous analyses assuming a pure binary scenario.

Intermediate velocity products in Ar+Ni collisions from 52 to 95 A.MeV are studied in an experiment performed at the GANIL facility with the 4$\pi$ multidetector INDRA. It is shown that these emissions cannot be explained by statistical decays of the quasi-projectile and the quasi-target in complete equilibrium. Three methods are used to isolate and characterize intermediate velocity products. The total mass of these products increases with the violence of the collision and reaches a large fraction of the system mass in mid-central collisions. This mass is found independent of the incident energy, but strongly dependent on the geometry of the collision. Finally it is shown that the kinematical characteristics of intermediate velocity products are weakly dependent on the experimental impact parameter, but strongly dependent on the incident energy. The observed trends are consistent with a participant-spectator like scenario or with neck emissions and/or break-up., Comment: 37 pages, 13 figures

Fragment production has been studied as a function of the source mass and excitation energy in peripheral collisions of $^{35}$Cl+$^{197}$Au at 43 MeV/nucleon and $^{70}$Ge+$^{nat}$Ti at 35 MeV/nucleon. The results are compared to the Au+Au data at 600 MeV/nucleon obtained by the ALADIN collaboration. A mass scaling, by $A_{source} \sim$ 35 to 190, strongly correlated to excitation energy per nucleon, is presented, suggesting a thermal fragment production mechanism. Comparisons to a standard sequential decay model and the lattice-gas model are made. Fragment emission from a hot, rotating source is unable to reproduce the experimental source size scaling., Comment: 13 pages LaTeX file, including 3 postscript figures (in .tar.gz fornmat), accepted in Phys. Rev. C . Also available at http://thomson.phy.ulaval.ca/ions_lourds/gil-en.html