Loss of memory of target nucleus deformation axis in heavy-ion fusion-fission

Fission fragment cross sections and angular anisotropies have been measured to high accuracy following fusion of ¹⁶O with the strongly deformed nucleus ¹⁸²W, at bombarding energies spanning the fusion barrier region. Together with existing evaporation residue data, they show that at all the beam energies, the statistical transition state model adequately describes the fission properties measured. No significant evidence was found for a memory of the different configurations at fusion resulting from the target nucleus deformation, in contrast with previous measurements for deformed actinide nuclei.