Energy balance and deformation at scission in $^{240}$Pu fission

International audienceThe experimental determination of the total excitation energy, the total kinetic energy, and the evaporation neutron multiplicity of fully identified fragments produced in transfer-induced fission of 240 Pu, combined with reasonable assumptions, permits to extract the intrinsic and collective excitation energy of the fragments as a function of their atomic number, along with their quadrupole deformation and their distance at scission. The results show that the deformation increases with the atomic number, Z , except for a local maximum around Z=44 and a minimum around Z=50 , associated with the effect of deformed shells at Z∼44 , N∼64 , and spherical shells in 132 Sn, respectively. The distance between the fragments also shows a minimum around Z1=44 , Z2=50 , suggesting a mechanism that links the effect of structure with the length of the neck at scission