28.—Simultaneous Emission of two Light Charged Particles in Fission

Synopsis The suggestion is made that in certain cases the light particles emitted in ternary fission may be released otherwise than in the ground state—and, in particular, that low-lying particle-unstable states may be involved. This suggestion is examined quantitatively in respect of the release of 8Be in the first excited short-lived state of 2·9 MeV excitation, and is shown to provide a satisfactory interpretation of the observation of quaternary fission in the α,α mode recently reported by Kataria et al. (1973). It appears probable that the other modes of quaternary fission observed by these authors should be similarly interpreted.