XI.—Correlations in alpha-Particle-accompanied fission

Synopsis The attempt is made to exhibit the necessary correlations between fragment excitation (or prompt neutron number), fragment kinetic energy, and a-particle energy, in α-particle-accompanied ternary fission. Treating a single mode of mass and charge division on the assumption that the ternary process develops directly out of an intermediate binary phase, and using the mutual electrostatic potential energy of the nascent binary fragments of this phase and the additional kinetic energy developed at the moment of α-particle emission as independent variables, various formal results are obtained and discussed in the light of the experimental evidence. In terms of a classical description, it appears likely that (for a given mode of division) the nuclear configuration at a-particle release in ternary fission is subject to much smaller variations than is the nuclear configuration at scission in binary fission in the corresponding mode. Possible inadequacies of this classical description are very briefly discussed.