  We study how the excitation energy of the fully accelerated fission fragments
is built up. It is stressed that only the intrinsic excitation energy available
before scission can be exchanged between the fission fragments to achieve
thermal equilibrium. This is in contradiction with most models used to
calculate prompt neutron emission where it is assumed that the total excitation
energy of the final fragments is shared between the fragments by the condition
of equal temperatures. We also study the intrinsic excitation-energy partition
according to a level density description with a transition from a
constant-temperature regime to a Fermi-gas regime. Complete or partial
excitation-energy sorting is found at energies well above the transition
energy.
