Slow nuclear decoherence: possibilities to detect the decay of thermalized-nonequilibrated matter

The statistical reactions with memory approach suggests the possibility of forming thermalized-nonequilibrated matter in nucleon-induced reactions. Unlike the fully equilibrated compound nucleus of Bohr, the decay of the thermalized-nonequilibrated system is characterised by the forward peaking of the evaporating particles and the significant spontaneous channel–channel correlation. This correlation results in the nonself-averaging of the excitation function fluctuations in the evaporation domain of the spectra offering a new possibility to experimentally detect the slow nuclear decoherence and the decay of the thermalized-nonequilibrated matter. The quantitative estimation of the effect for the 93Nb(n,p) reaction at En≃14 MeV yields ≃30–40% for the relative magnitude of fluctuations at the maximum, Ep≃6–8 MeV, of the proton evaporation spectrum.