CALCULATED NUCLIDE PRODUCTION YIELDS IN RELATIVISTIC COLLISIONS OF FISSILE NUCLEI

A model calculation is presented which predicts the complex nuclide di stribution resulting from peripheral relativistic heavy-ion collisions involving fissile nuclei. The model is based on a modem version of th e abrasion-ablation model which describes the formation of excited pre fragments due io the nuclear collisions and their consecutive decay. T he competition between the evaporation of different light particles an d fission is computed with an evaporation code which takes dissipative effects and the emission of intermediate-mass fragments into account. The nuclide distribution resulting from fission processes is treated by a semi-empirical description which includes the excitation-energy d ependent influence of nuclear shell effects and pairing correlations. The calculations of collisions between U-238 and different reaction pa rtners reveal that a huge number of isotopes of all elements up to ura nium is produced. The complex nuclide distribution shows the character istics of fragmentation, mass-asymmetric low-energy fission and mass-s ymmetric high-energy fission. The yields of the different components f or different reaction partners are studied. Consequences for technical applications are discussed. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.