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Title: Proton resonance spectroscopy in sup 40 Ca

Thesis/Dissertation ·
OSTI ID:5594893

The differential cross sections for the {sup 39}K(p,p{sub o}){sup 39}K and {sup 39}K-(p,{alpha}{sub o}){sup 36}Ar reactions have been measured for E{sub p} = 1.90 to 4.02 MeV at laboratory angles {theta} = 90{degree}, 108{degree}, 150{degree} and 165{degree}. Data were taken with the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL) KN Van de Graaff accelerator and the associated high resolution system. The targets consisted of 1-2 {mu}g/cm{sup 2} of potassium carbonate (K{sub 2}CO{sub 3}), enriched to 99.97% {sup 39}K, evaporated onto gold coated carbon backings. Excitation functions were measured in proton energy steps varying from 100 to 400 3V. The energy region studied corresponds to an excitation energy range in the {sup 40}Ca nucleus of E{sub x} = 10.2 to 12.3 MeV. A multi-level multi-channel R-matrix based computer code was used to fit the experimental excitation functions. Resonance parameters obtained include resonance energy, spin, parity, partial widths, and channel spin and orbital angular momentum mixing ratios. Of the 248 resonances observed in the proton channel, 148 were also observed in the alpha channel. A fit to the observed level density yielded a nuclear temperature of 1.5 MeV. The data were compared with predictions of statistical theories of energy levels for both level spacing and reduced width distributions. The alpha reduced widths agree with the Porter-Thomas distribution and suggest that only 5-10% of the states with alpha widths were not observed. The summed strength in each of the alpha channels represents a significant fraction of the Wigner limit for these channels. The proton channels, on the other hand, generally have much smaller fractions. The two proton s-wave strength functions are equal and thus show no evidence for spin-exchange forces in the nucleon-nucleus interaction.

Research Organization:
Duke Univ., Durham, NC (USA)
OSTI ID:
5594893
Resource Relation:
Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English