Evidence of incomplete relaxation in the reaction Ag+40Ar at 288 and 340 MeV bombarding energies

Abstract

Abstract The particles emitted in the reaction induced by 40 Ar on natural Ag at 288 and 340 MeV bombarding energy have been studied. The fragments have been identified in atomic number, their kinetic energy distribution and their angular distributions have been measured. The kinetic energy spectra show two components: a high-energy component related to the beam energy, or “quasi-elastic” component, and a low kinetic energy component, close to the Coulomb energy called “relaxed” component. The relaxed component is present at all angles and for all particles. The quasi-elastic component is present close to the grazing angle for atomic numbers close to that of the projectile. The relaxed cross section increases with atomic number for Z > 9. The increase in cross section is sharper for the lower bombarding energy. The angular distributions are forward peaked, in excess of 1 sin θ for all the measured atomic numbers. The forward peaking is larger for particles close in Z to the projectile. The results are interpreted in terms of characteristic times associated with a short-lived intermediate complex. The cross sections and angular distributions are satisfactorily reproduced on the basis of a model accounting for a diffusion process occuring along the mass asymmetry coordinate of the intermediate complex.