Pre-equilibrium α-particle emission as a probe to study α-clustering in nuclei

Abstract

The same entrance channel velocity of 16 MeV/n was used in the reactions induced by an α-cluster structured 16O projectile on 65Cu and by a non α-cluster 19F projectile on 62Ni target, in order to produce an excited 81Rb compound nucleus. This study was mainly devoted to compare pre-equilibrium a particle emission from the two systems. In fact, despite the slight different excitation energy, the same fast emission is expected from the two systems, unless major effects induced by the 16O α-clustering structure influence the pre-equilibrium a particle production during the non-equilibrium stage. The experimental study of this effect is a perspective way for investigation of alpha clusterization in exotic neutron-rich nuclei, produced by neutron-rich radioactive beam facilities such as SPES at the Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro. The preliminary experimental results and the comparison with calculations of the Hybrid Exciton Model, recently developed by our group, are reported in this paper.