Hot nuclei with high spin states in collisions between heavy nuclei

International audienceIn the first part of this contribution we have shown that pretty hot nuclei could be obtained in peripheral collisions of Kr+Au. The collisions considered in the chosen example give rise to a nucleus of Z=28 with a kinetic energy of 1600 MeV (i.e. a velocity close to 27 MeV/u to be compared with the 32 MeV/u of the beam). The excitation energy deposited in the non-detected target like-nucleus, deduced from the neutron multiplicity measurements, amounts to 700 MeV (T= 6 MeV). In the second part of the contribution one used the well known properties of fission, and particularly its sensitivity to spin, to show in a qualitative way that pretty high spin values are into play. A more quantitative analysis together with additional measurements are still needed in order to infer precise figures of spin. It can be noted that for the 29 MeV/u Pb+Au reaction 1max amounts to 1700 ℎ. If we assume that the sticking or rolling conditions can be fulfilled for initial angular momenta of about 2/3 1max, then a projectile-like (and its target partner) could acquire an intrinsic spin of about 160 ℎ. The behavior of a Pb-like nucleus brought in such an exotic state (T=6 MeV and J=160ℎ)) is certainly worth to be studied in detail. It is also worth recalling that, when obtained in peripheral collisions, the hot nuclei thus formed do not suffer much initial compression at variance with what happens in more central collisions. There is thus an interesting field to be explored of hot, high spin but uncompressed nucle