Prompt ternary break-up in 32S+59Co and 32S+63Cu reactions at 5.6 A · MeV

Final states indicating the presence in the reaction of three-body fragmentation processes has been observed in 32S+59Co and 32S+63Cu dissipative collisions at 5.6 A · MeV. Besides the already observed sequential binary process, data analysis reveals the presence of prompt ternary break-up of the composite system. Indications on the system configuration at the scission have been deduced by analyzing the event shape in the momentum phase space. The decay appears to occur in a collinear configuration, one of the produced fragments originating from the neck which connects the other two. In spite of the large energy dissipation, structure effects in the charge partition seem to affect part of events.