The 12C+12C+α three-body final state induced by the 12C+16O entrance channel

A kinematically complete experiment has been made of the 12C+16O→12C+12C+α reaction in the range of bombarding energies between 68 and 80 MeV. The double differential cross section was measured by observing two 12C nuclei in the time coincidence mode at 300 with respect to the beam in a symmetrical coplanar geometry. It is clarified that the reaction mainly proceeds through sequential decay involving the formation of the 4+ 10.35 MeV and 6+ 14.82 MeV states of 16O. The double differential cross section for these sequential decays exhibits a marked enhancement at 70 MeV superposed on a large continuous background. In a Hauser-Feshbach analysis, the continuous background of the differential and double differential cross sections is successfully reproduced for the 4+ 10.35 MeV state of 16O. The 12C-12C angular correlation measured at 77 MeV shows a significant discrepancy between the experimental data and the Hauser-Feshbach prediction. (Auth.)