Fission time scale from prescission neutron, proton, and α particle multiplicities in 28Si+175Lu

Prescission neutron, proton, and alpha-particle multiplicities for the reaction Si-28+Lu-175 at 159 MeV were measured simultaneously. The multiplicity data were analyzed using deformation dependent particle transmission coefficients, binding energies, and level densities to extract fission time scales and the mean deformation of the saddle-to-scission emitter. The neutron and charged particle data could be explained consistently, a better fit being obtained by considering the emission of neutrons to be favored toward larger deformation as compared to charged particles. The total fission time scale is deduced as 36-41x10(-21)s.