Nucleon pair breaking in fission has been an important topic in

nuclear physics Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies atomic nuclei and their constituents and interactions, in addition to the study of other forms of nuclear matter. Nuclear physics should not be confused with atomic physics, which studies the ...

for decades. "

Nucleon In physics and chemistry, a nucleon is either a proton or a neutron, considered in its role as a component of an atomic nucleus. The number of nucleons in a nucleus defines the atom's mass number (nucleon number). Until the 1960s, nucleons were ...

pair" refers to nucleon pairing effects which strongly influence the nuclear properties of a

nuclide A nuclide (or nucleide, from nucleus, also known as nuclear species) is a class of atoms characterized by their number of protons, ''Z'', their number of neutrons, ''N'', and their nuclear energy state. The word ''nuclide'' was coined by Truman ...

. The most measured quantities in research on

nuclear fission Nuclear fission is a reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into two or more smaller nuclei. The fission process often produces gamma photons, and releases a very large amount of energy even by the energetic standards of radio ...

are the charge and mass fragments yields for

uranium-235 Uranium-235 (235U or U-235) is an isotope of uranium making up about 0.72% of natural uranium. Unlike the predominant isotope uranium-238, it is fissile, i.e., it can sustain a nuclear chain reaction. It is the only fissile isotope that exis ...

and other

fissile In nuclear engineering, fissile material is material capable of sustaining a nuclear fission chain reaction. By definition, fissile material can sustain a chain reaction with neutrons of thermal energy. The predominant neutron energy may be typ ...

nuclides. In this sense, experimental results on charge distribution for low-energy fission of

actinide The actinide () or actinoid () series encompasses the 15 metallic chemical elements with atomic numbers from 89 to 103, actinium through lawrencium. The actinide series derives its name from the first element in the series, actinium. The inform ...

s present a preference to an even ''Z'' fragment, which is called odd-even effect on charge yield. The importance of these distributions is because they are the result of rearrangement of nucleons on the fission process due to the interplay between collective variables and individual particle levels; therefore they permit to understand several aspects of dynamics of fission process. The process from saddle (when nucleus begins its irreversible evolution to fragmentation) to scission point (when fragments are formed and nuclear interaction between fragments dispels), fissioning system shape changes but also promote nucleons to excited particle levels. Because, for even ''Z'' (

proton number The atomic number or nuclear charge number (symbol ''Z'') of a chemical element is the charge number of an atomic nucleus. For ordinary nuclei, this is equal to the proton number (''n''p) or the number of protons found in the nucleus of every ...

) and even ''N'' (

neutron number The neutron number, symbol ''N'', is the number of neutrons in a nuclide. Atomic number (proton number) plus neutron number equals mass number: . The difference between the neutron number and the atomic number is known as the neutron excess: . ...

) nuclei, there is a gap from ground state to first excited particle state—which is reached by nucleon pair breaking—fragments with even ''Z'' is expected to have a higher probability to be produced than those with odd ''Z''. The preference even ''Z'' even ''N'' divisions is interpreted as the preservation of superfluidity during the descent from saddle to scission. The absence of odd-even effect means that process is rather viscous. Contrary to observed for charge distributions no odd-even effect on fragments

mass number The mass number (symbol ''A'', from the German word ''Atomgewicht'' tomic weight, also called atomic mass number or nucleon number, is the total number of protons and neutrons (together known as nucleons) in an atomic nucleus. It is approxima ...

(''A'') is observed. This result is interpreted by the hypothesis that in fission process always there will be nucleon pair breaking, which may be proton pair or neutron pair breaking in low energy fission of

uranium-234 Uranium-234 (234U or U-234) is an isotope of uranium. In natural uranium and in uranium ore, 234U occurs as an indirect decay product of uranium-238, but it makes up only 0.0055% (55 parts per million) of the raw uranium because its half-life ...

uranium-236 Uranium-236 (236U) is an isotope of uranium that is neither fissile with thermal neutrons, nor very good fertile material, but is generally considered a nuisance and long-lived radioactive waste. It is found in spent nuclear fuel and in the rep ...

, and

plutonium-240 Plutonium-240 ( or Pu-240) is an isotope of plutonium formed when plutonium-239 captures a neutron. The detection of its spontaneous fission led to its discovery in 1944 at Los Alamos and had important consequences for the Manhattan Project. 240 ...

studied by

Modesto Montoya Modesto Montoya (born 24 February 1949) is a nuclear physicist and former president of the Peruvian Institute for Nuclear Energy in Lima, Peru. He is a former president and current member of the Peruvian Academy of Nuclear Sciences, former preside ...

References

Fission products Nuclear fission {{nuclear-stub