Nuclear Fission Induced by Pi Mesons

Abstract

Pi mesons are an important part of the interactions among strongly-interacting particles, and their reactions with complex nuclei involve reactions with a wide range of interactions and time scales, with the slowest being the familiar fission process. Decades of effort have produced a wide range of fission data with stopped and energetic charged beams, both positive and negative. These results are the result of many uncoordinated studies, but in total can give a very good view of pion-induced fission. This review will compare and combine the measurements, with comparisons to a range of theoretical expectations. It is found that the nature of fission induced by pi mesons is not significantly different from fission induced by other energetic particles, in spite of the special features of the mesonic beam. This specific arena of nuclear science may now be considered complete.