Evaporation residue, fission cross sections, and linear momentum transfer for ${}_{}{}^{14}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{N}$ induced reactions from 35A to 155A MeV

Differential cross sections for evaporation residues and fission fragments for 35A, 100A, 130A and 155A MeV ${}_{}{}^{14}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{N}$ on targets ranging from ${}_{}{}^{154}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Sm}$ to ${}_{}{}^{197}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Au}$ have been measured. The angle-integrated cross sections are larger than what might be expected. The fission fragment-fission fragment folding angle correlations for 35A, 100A MeV ${}_{}{}^{14}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{N}$ and 25A MeV ${}_{}{}^{16}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{O}$ on similar targets were also measured. The average linear momentum transfer has been deduced from both the fission angle correlation and from the fore-aft asymmetry of the fission angular distributions in the laboratory system. The data are all consistent with a picture where pre-equilibrium particle emission removes an increasing fraction of the orbital angular momentum as the bombarding energy increases. This allows a large range of partial waves to contribute to formation of a composite nucleus with a finite fission barrier. © 1996 The American Physical Society.