Highly deformed 40Ca configurations in 28Si+12C -: art. no. 034612

The possible occurrence of highly deformed configurations in the Ca-40 dinuclear system formed in the Si-28+C-12 reaction is investigated by analyzing the spectra of emitted light charged particles. Both inclusive and exclusive measurements of the heavy fragments (Agreater than or equal to10) and their associated light charged particles (protons and alpha particles) have been made at the IReS Strasbourg VIVITRON Tandem facility at bombarding energies of E-lab(Si-28)=112 MeV and 180 MeV by using the ICARE charged particle multidetector array. The energy spectra, velocity distributions, and both in-plane and out-of-plane angular correlations of light charged particles are compared to statistical-model calculations using a consistent set of parameters with spin-dependent level densities. The analysis suggests the onset of large nuclear deformation in Ca-40 at high spin.