A pioneering measurement campaign has enabled the systematic mapping of the asymmetry between fragments produced in nuclear fission. Two “islands” of predominantly asymmetric fission have been identified as a function of the parent nucleus. The one in the lower-left corresponds to recently discovered asymmetric fissions in the mercury region (Z = 80). Our study shows that this type of fission is favored by the presence of a light krypton fragment (Z = 36). These results were published in Nature.
