Comparison of Fission Induced by Protons and Pions

We compare the properties of fission induced by protons and pions. Three different methodologies are used to make this comparison. First, it is shown that pion-induced fission cross sections are not much different in magnitude from proton-induced fission cross sections at the same beam kinetic energy. Secondly, across the pion-nucleon (3,3) resonance so prominent with free nucleons, it has been observed that there is no significant change in the reaction mechanism in the case of pions. Thirdly, it is noted that an empirical expression used for evaluations of proton-induced fission cross sections is also valid for positive pion-induced fission cross sections, at least for actinide nuclei. Fission cross sections computed using a cascade-exciton model code for ²⁰⁹Bi and ²³⁸U are also compared with the experimental data available.