Production and decay of hot nuclei

A report is given of the most important results obtained over the last three years with high-efficient 4π-neutron detectors at Ganil. The various ways to create very hot nuclei as well as the observation of their decay pattern are central issues. Ar-projectiles have been used over a wide range of incident energy, and also more massive beams of Kr and Pb, to induce reactions on Au-, Th- and U-targets. The energy dissipation and excitation energies with various ions are determined. (R.P.) 29 refs., 15 figs., 1 tab