C12−αangular correlations in theAl27(O16,C12α)Al27reaction at 65 MeV

Both in-plane and out-of-plane angular correlations of coincident C and $\alpha$ particles have been measured for 65 MeV ${}_{}{}^{16}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{O}$ bombardment of a ${}_{}{}^{27}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Al}$ target. Exploitation of the time-of-flight method enabled the measurement of very low energy alpha particles at back angles. Results from the present experiment show that evaporation from an intermediate nucleus ${}_{}{}^{31}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{P}$* accounts for the majority of the $\mathrm{C}-\alpha$ coincidence events observed. A small number of alpha particles from the breakup of ${}_{}{}^{16}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{O}$* were detected at angles around that of the carbon detector. Less than 10% of the alpha particles detected are of pre-equilibrium origin. This is in sharp contrast to earlier results.