Preface

Summary

The study of incomplete fusion (ICF) reactions in heavy ion (HI) interactions at energies below 10 MeV per nucleon is a topic of resurgent interest. At such low energies, near and/or just above the fusion barrier, the complete fusion (CF) of the interacting ions is expected to be the most dominant process; however, experiments carried out during the last decade or so have indicated that a significant part of the interaction proceeds through ICF process. Some theories have been proposed to explain the process of incomplete fusion but none of them could successfully reproduce the experimental data at energies < 10 MeV/A. In order to understand the dynamics of such low energy ICF processes and to develop a viable theoretical frame work, our group carried out extensive and complementary experiments on the topic during the last decade or so. The monograph presents the details of these experiments and the analysis of the data.

The presentation has five chapters; Chapter-1 gives a historical background of the subject and discusses the motivation for the work. Chapter-2, entitled ‘Theoretical Tools, Reaction Mechanism and Computer Codes’ is intended to develop a sound theoretical background of the subject. Important features of computer codes available in the market for theoretical simulation are discussed in this chapter. All experimental details, including the methodology, experimental setups, formulations used for data reduction etc., are given in Chapter-3. The Chapter-4, entitled ‘Measurements’ contains the details of the measurements of Excitation Functions (EFs), Recoil Range Distributions (RRDs), Angular Distributions (ADs), Spin Distributions (SDs) and Feeding Intensity Profiles (FIPs) of reaction residues. Each measurement is discussed in detail and the recorded experimental data is presented both in tabular form as well as in graphical form. Chapter-5, is ‘Results and Conclusions’ which provides a detailed discussion of the results obtained from the critical analysis and evaluation of the data obtained in the present set of experiments. Conclusions regarding the dependence of ICF component on various entrance channel parameters, presented in this chapter may be of considerable value in developing a theoretical frame work for HI reactions at energies below 10 MeV per nucleon. The experiments detailed in this document were carried out by our research group at the Physics Department, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India, in collaboration with members of the Nuclear Physics Group of the Inter University Accelerator Centre (IUAC), New Delhi, India.