Scission Jets

Microscopic simulations of nuclear fission suggest that the fragments initially have a pear-shaped appearance. The associated octupole distortions disappear relatively quickly as the fragemnts seek to acquire a smoother surface. The inwards moving bulge surface boosts the energy of the nucleons in the fragment and some of those may become unbound and emitted from the far side of the fragment. Because of the similarity of this phenomenon with the so called Fermi jets, scission nucleons resulting from this mechanism are referred to as scission jets. The talk presents a first analysis of this novel phenomenon.