Search for highly excited states of high spatial symmetry in 8Be

The 7Li(p,αt)p and 6Li(d,αt)p three-particle reactions are investigated in a kinematically complete experiment for Esub(p) = 4.5-12.0 MeV and Esub(d) = 1.2-8.0 MeV, respectively, in order to extract excitation functions and angular distributions belonging to the sequential decay via 4He(0+) = α*, the first excited state of 4He. A prominent bump observed in both excitation functions is discussed in terms of compound levels in 8Be and in connection with theoretical predictions of a rotational band in 8Be having an αα* structure. Furthermore the experimental results obtained are compared with those for (π-,2n) reactions. (orig.)