Sequential feeding and temperature determinations from the relative populations of widely separated states in 4He, 5Li, and 8Be nuclei.

Abstract

Statistical calculations are performed to evaluate the sequential decay of highly excited primary reaction products and the resulting perturbations of the relative populations of widely separated particle unbound states in light nuclei. Previous calculations are improved upon by including more states in the primary distribution and constraining the element distribution by that measured experimentally. Emission temperatures of about 5 MeV, extracted from the relative populations of states in $^{4}\mathrm{He}$, $^{5}\mathrm{Li}$, and $^{8}\mathrm{Be}$ nuclei emitted in the $^{16}\mathrm{O}$+Au reaction at E/A=94 MeV, are not likely due to sequential feeding from an ensemble of primary fragments characterized by much higher initial temperatures.