Does deuteron-induced fission on actinide nuclei prevails over the breakup at low incident energies?

TL;DR

This paper investigates whether deuteron-induced fission on actinide nuclei dominates over breakup processes at low energies, revealing that breakup mechanisms are more prevalent than previously thought.

Contribution

It provides a corrected analysis of reaction cross sections showing the dominance of deuteron breakup over fission at low energies.

Findings

Deuteron breakup mechanism is dominant at low energies.

Corrected cross sections account for pre-equilibrium and inelastic breakup effects.

Fission is less prevalent than breakup in the studied reactions.

Abstract

An analysis of the $^{231}$Pa$(d,3n)$$^{230}$U reaction excitation function at energies around the Coulomb barrier has taken into account the pre-equilibrium and compound-nucleus cross sections corrected for the deuteron-breakup decrease of the total reaction cross section, as well as the inelastic breakup enhancement. The analysis reveals the dominance of the deuteron breakup mechanism unlike a former assessment in this respect of the deuteron-induced fission process.