Neutron emission in the reactionHo165+Fe56atElab=8.5MeV/u

Neutron emission and $\alpha$-particle emission in the ${}_{}{}^{165}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Ho}$ + ${}_{}{}^{56}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Fe}$ reaction have been measured for the damped-collision and fusion-fission components of this reaction at a bombarding energy of 8.5 MeV/u. The c.m. neutron energy spectra for damped collisions indicate equal temperatures for the light and heavy fragments, a result consistent with the equilibration of the excitation energy during the interaction time. Pre-equilibrium neutron emission is found to contribute less than 5%. An out-of-plane neutron anisotropy $A_2=0.2\mathrm{}\pm 0.1$ is found. The measured ratios of the neutron multiplicities for the light and heavy fragments suggest a rapid approach of the fragment $\frac{N}{Z}$ ratios during the collision to that corresponding to minimum potential energy of the composite system.