Nuclear viscosity of hot rotating 240Cf -: art. no. 044612

The absolute gamma-ray/fission multiplicities from hot rotating Cf-240, populated at seven bombarding energies using the reaction S-32+(208)pb, are reported. Statistical model calculations including nuclear dissipation have been performed to extract the dependence of the nuclear viscosity on temperature and/or nuclear deformation. The extracted nuclear dissipation coefficient is found to be independent of temperature. Large dissipation during the saddle to scission path provides a good fit to the gamma-ray spectra.