Abstract
We calculate neutrino-induced fission cross sections for selected nuclei with . We show that these reactions populate the daughter nucleus at excitation energies where shell effects are significantly washed out, effectively reducing the fission barrier. If the process occurs in the presence of a strong neutrino fluence, and electron neutrino average energies are sufficiently high, perhaps as a result of matter-enhanced neutrino flavor transformation, then neutrino-induced fission could lead to significant alteration in the -process flow in slow outflow scenarios.
- Received 20 August 2003
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.111101
©2004 American Physical Society