Direct and statistical gamma decay of the giant quadrupole resonance of 208Pb

Abstract

The gamma decay of the giant quadrupole resonance of 208Pb is discussed. The relative contribution of the decay via the compound nucleus is calculated from the statistical theory. It is found that the compound decay is as important as the direct decay. The summed contribution of the direct and compound decay modes, however, is a factor of 2 smaller than the observed gamma branching ratio GQR → gs.