A study on 4 reactions forming ⁴⁶Ti*

The NUCL-EX collaboration is carrying out an extensive research program on pre-equilibrium emission of light charged particles from hot nuclei. The ultimate goal is to study how cluster structures affect nuclear reactions. Indeed, a strong correlation between nuclear structure and reaction dynamics emerges when some nucleons or clusters of nucleons are emitted or captured. At this purpose, the four reactions ¹⁶O + ³⁰Si, ¹⁶O + ³⁰Si, ¹⁸O + ²⁸Si, and ¹⁹F + ²⁷Al have been measured at about 120 MeV projectile energy. Experimental data were collected at Legnaro National Laboratories, using the GARFIELD+RCo array, fully equipped with digital electronics. Following an initial identification of particles and the energy calibration procedures, the complete analysis is being performed on an event-by-event basis. Experimental data are then compared to the theoretical predictions where events are generated by numerical codes based on pre-equilibrium and statistical models and then filtered through a software replica of the setup. Differences between the experimental data and the predicted data put into evidence effects related to the entrance channel and to the cluster nature of the colliding ions. After a general introduction on the experimental campaign, this contribution will focus on the preliminary results obtained so far. (authors)