Fission and Particle Decay of Cold Compound Nuclei with High Angular Momentum

We have measured fission and particle-evaporation cross sections for the nuclei ${}_{}{}^{170-188}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Pt}$ formed with the reactions ${}_{}{}^{58,64}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Ni}$ + ${}_{}{}^{112-124}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Sn}$. This represents the first systematic study of the decay of compound nuclei formed with heavy projectiles ($A_{\mathrm{proj}}\gtrsim \frac{1}{2}{A}_{\mathrm{target}}$), and thus endowed with large angular momenta at relatively low excitation energies. Using a statistical model and a single set of input parameters, we have reproduced all the data.