Nuclear relaxation phenomena, diffusion and orbiting in the reaction 107, 109Ag+ 84, 86Kr at 7.2 MeV/nucleon

Abstract

Charged particles produced from the interaction of a 7.2 MeV/nucleon Kr beam and a natural Ag target have been studied. Fragments up to Z = 50 have been identified by means of a ΔE, E telescope. Kinetic energy distributions, charge distributions and angular distributions have been measured for the individual atomic numbers. The kinetic energy distributions show two components: a high energy “quasi-elastic” component, and a low energy or “relaxed” component close to the Coulomb energy for touching spheres. The charge distribution for this system is very broad and appears to peak at symmetry rather than at the Z of the projectile. The angular distributions for the relaxed component increase monotonically with decreasing angle and are all forward peaked in excess of 1/sinθ. These results are dramatically different from those obtained in Kr bombardments of heavier targets where rather narrow charge distributions and side peaked angular distributions have been observed. The behavior of the reaction Ag+Kr is strongly reminiscent of reactions induced by lighter projectiles. An interpretation of these data in terms of a diffusion process along the mass asymmetry coordinate is presented.