EXCITATION FUNCTIONS OF α-INDUCED REACTIONS IN COBALT AND PRE-EQUILIBRIUM EFFECTS

Abstract

Excitation functions for the reactions (α,2n), (α,αn), (α,α2n), (α,α3n) and (α,2pn) have been measured using 57 Co as a target up to 50 MeV α-particle energy. The stacked foil activation technique and γ-ray spectroscopy method has been employed. Measured excitation functions are compared with the geometry dependent hybrid (GDH) model. A comparison shows that the pure equilibrium (EQ) compound reaction mechanism is incapable of reproducing the experimental data while the pre-equilibrium (PE) reaction mechanism along with equilibrium (EQ) decay, where it is considered that pre-equilibrium emission of particles take place prior to the establishment of the thermodynamical equilibrium of the system, is able to reproduce the experimental data. The GDH model code ALICE-91 has been used for theoretical calculations. A value of initial exciton number n0=4 with configuration (2 neutron + 2 proton + 0 hole) has been found to give the satisfactory reproduction of experimental excitation functions.