Collective clusterization in excited light nuclear systems

Abstract

A new cluster decay process is proposed for the complex, intermediate mass fragments or “clusters” emitted in low energy nuclear reactions forming the excited light (A ^*_CN ∼ 60) and medium mass (A ^*_CN ∼ 110) nuclear systems. The complex fragments are shown to arise as multiple clusters of masses less than ∼20 in medium mass nuclei or as complete mass spectra in light nuclei. For ¹¹⁶Ba^*, ¹²C decay is still shown to be a preferred decay. The calculations for fragment production cross sections and total kinetic energies of fragments are presented for reactions leading to hot ⁵⁶Ni and ¹¹⁶Ba nuclei.