Microscopic two-component multistep direct theory for continuum nuclear reactions

Abstract

We present a multistep direct reaction theory for analyzing nucleon-induced reactions to the continuum for incident energies up to 200 MeV. Two principal advances in multistep direct theory are studied. (1) A microscopical approach is given for calculating distorted-wave Born approximation (DWBA) transitions to the continuum, where transitions to all accessible 1$p$1$h$ shell model states are explicitly determined. These states, obtained from a simple noninteracting Nilsson model, are assumed to be spread according to Gaussian distributions. In this approach, therefore, state densities are not used. We also provide a link with more conventional methods that utilize particle-hole state densities, and present a more accurate technique for sampling the DWBA strength. (2) A two-component formulation of multistep direct reactions is given, where neutron and proton excitations are explicitly accounted for in the evolution of the reaction, for all orders of scattering. We show that the attractive convolution structure for multistep processes persists within a two-component formalism, and conveniently automatically generates the many reaction pathways that can occur in the Feshbach-Kerman-Koonin expansion of the multistep cross section when neutron and proton excitations are followed. This formalism is particularly important for the simultaneous analyses of neutron and proton emission spectra. The multistep direct theory is applied, along with theories for multistep compound, compound, and collective reactions, to analyze experimental emission spectra for a range of targets and energies. Particular attention is paid to a complete and comprehensive analysis of all important decay channels and reaction mechanisms. We show that the theory correctly accounts for measured neutron and proton emission angle-integrated spectra, as well as angular distributions. Additionally, we note that these microscopic and two-component developments facilitate more fundamental studies into effective nucleon-nucleon interactions in multistep calculations.