Nuclear Reactions Induced by Heavy Ions

AbstractReactions between accelerated ions and target nuclei at rest can be induced whenever the kinetic energy is high enough to overcome the mutually-repulsive Coulomb force. Then the two nuclei will touch or even interpenetrate each other; they may amalgamate to form a single compound system or re-separate after a certain contact time as different nuclei, having exchanged a considerable number of neutrons and protons. Heavily deformed and highly excited as they are, they will de-excite by emitting all kinds of radiation and nucleons, or they may even break apart in a series of lighter fragments which can finally be observed and identified in the detection systems.