Compound-Nucleus Decay via the Emission of Heavy Nuclei

The production of ⁴He, Li, ⁷Be, ⁹Be, B, C, N, O, and F has been studied in the reaction 90-MeV ³He+ⁿᵃᵗAg. Although the yields of the heavier elements are orders of magnitude less than for ⁴He, the energy spectra, charge, and angular distributions indicate that an equilibrium statistical process is responsible for the production of these heavy nuclei in the backward hemisphere.