The (γ,p) reaction in 197Au Original Research Article

Proton energy spectra of the 197Au(e,p) reaction were measured in the region between 17 and 30 MeV at three angles: 40°, 90° and 140°. Two prominent bumps were observed in the (γ,p) spectra converted using virtual photon theory. The higher-energy bump shifts with photon energies and the lower-energy one stays at 10.5 MeV. The higher-energy bump is much larger at 40° than at 140°; on the contrary the angular dependence of the lower-energy bump is small. Neither bump can be described by a statistical calculation. A calculation of a microscopic shell model shows that the lower-energy bump is attributed to the decay of proton-particle–neutron-hole pairs in the View the MathML source states, leaving a neutron hole around the Fermi surface. The higher-energy bump can be ascribed to the direct–semidirect mechanism. This paper gives the solution to a part of the long-standing question about the origin of photo-proton emission in heavy nuclei.