Randomly Oriented Angular Momentum in Strongly Damped Collisions

The first three moments of the $\gamma$-ray multiplicity distribution and the out-of-plane $\gamma$-ray anisotropy have been measured simultaneously as a function of mass asymmetry for the strongly damped products of the reaction ${}_{}{}^{63}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Cu}$ with 168-MeV ${}_{}{}^{20}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Ne}$. The large variance of the multiplicity appears to be associated with the small anisotropy. These results indicate a random component of angular momentum which is comparable to the aligned component induced by tangential friction.