Estimates of the nuclear time delay in dissipative U+U and U+Cm collisions derived from the shape of positron and delta-ray spectra

Positron and delta-ray spectra have been measured in coincidence with quasielastic scattered particles and fission fragments from the bombardment of Pd, U, and Cm targets with U beams of energies between 5.9 and 8.4 MeV/u. For collisions leading to a fission reaction, the atomic positron and delta-ray spectra fall off more steeply at high energies than expected from calculations based on pure Rutherford trajectories. A quantitative analysis of this effect is in accord with a nuclear contact time of about 10-21 s