Clustering in alpha conjugate nuclei

Characteristics of the decay of alpha like nuclei produced in various reactions with alpha conjugate nuclei are discussed. We observe a significant number of events in which a large fraction of the system breaks up into alpha-conjugate nuclei. Lighter fragments in the various decay channels appear to originate from a neck-like region between 4 and 7 cm/ns whereas the heavier fragments appear to originate from velocities near the beam velocity. This behavior is consistent with a hierarchy effect that cannot be explained by statistical processes.