Prompt muon-induced fission: a sensitive probe for nuclear energy dissipation and fission dynamics

TL;DR

This paper explores how muon-induced nuclear excitations can serve as sensitive probes for understanding nuclear energy dissipation and the detailed dynamics of the fission process.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method of using muonic atom transitions to investigate fission dynamics and energy dissipation in actinides.

Findings

Muon-induced excitations can trigger fission via doorway states.

Muon motion provides insights into nuclear energy dissipation.

The method offers a new probe for fission dynamics.

Abstract

Following the formation of an excited muonic atom, inner shell transitions may proceed without photon emission by inverse internal conversion, i.e. the muonic excitation energy is transferred to the nucleus. In actinides, the 2p -> 1s and the 3d -> 1s muonic transitions result in excitation of the nuclear giant dipole and giant quadrupole resonances, respectively, which act as doorway states for fission. The nuclear excitation energy is typically 6.5 - 10 MeV. Because the muon lifetime is long compared to the timescale of prompt nuclear fission, the motion of the muon in the Coulomb field of the fissioning nucleus may be utilized to learn about the dynamics of fission.