Dissipative effects in spallation-induced fission of $^{208}$Pb at high excitation energies

Spallation reactions on fissile nuclei represent an appropriate tool to investigate dissipative effects in nuclear fission. In this work, we have studied transient and dissipative effects in proton- and deuteron-induced fission on Pb208 at 500A MeV. A dedicated experimental setup optimized for inverse kinematics measurements made it possible to identify in atomic number both fission fragments with high resolution, and reconstruct the charge of the fissioning system. We could then determine the width of the fission fragments charge distribution as well as partial fission cross sections, both as a function of the charge of the fissioning system. These two complementary observables permitted us to investigate the dynamics of the process at small deformation, i.e., from the ground state to the saddle point. The description of these observables with advanced model calculations reveals the influence of the nuclear dissipation in the fission process at high excitation energy and in particular its manifestation through transient time effects.