Persistence of odd-even staggering in charged fragment yields from the 112Sn+58Ni collision at 35 MeV/nucleon

Odd-even staggering effects on charge distributions are investigated for fragments produced in semiperipheral and central collisions of 112Sn+58Ni at 35 MeV/nucleon. For fragments with Z<16 one observes a clear overproduction of even charges, which decreases for heavier fragments. In peripheral collisions staggering effects persist up to Z about 40. For light fragments, staggering appears to be substantially independent of the centrality of the collisions, suggesting that it is mainly related to the last few steps in the decay of hot nuclei.