Experimental Studies of (p, t) Reactions

Several ($p, t$) reactions in heavy nuclei are studied by measuring excitation functions and angular distributions. While the data are not sufficiently extensive to justify general conclusions, they seem to indicate that: (1) a "pick-up" process is important only when the target nucleus contains two loosely bound neutrons; and (2) the inherent probability for the emission of tritons in the breakup of a compound nucleus is not much (if any) less than for the emission of neutrons or protons.