Fusion-fission in light nuclear systems

The fission process, which has been largely ignored for reactions involving light nuclear systems, will be shown to play a significant role in the 32S + 24Mg reaction at energies greater than about 1 1/2 times the Coulomb barrier energy. The magnitude of the fusion-fission cross section ant its fragment mass dependence are found to be consistent with newer estimates of the fission barriers in lighter systems. The presence of the fission mechanism has significance for understanding the limitation to fusion at higher energies and has implications for comparisons of model calculations of evaporation-residue and associated light-particle yields with experiment. 17 refs., 8 figs