16O breakup in quasielastic reactions near the Fermi energy

The quasielastic breakup of an 16O nucleus at 32.5 MeV/nucleon on a 197Au target has been investigated by measuring the projectilelike fragments in coincidence with the emitted light charged particles. It is found that the breakup proceeds via sequential, two-step processes in which inelastic scattering and one-neutron pickup are the most significant components in the formation of the primary fragment. This is followed by statistical decay of the highly excited primary fragment. A Monte Carlo simulation was used to identify these processes and to deduce differential and total cross sections for the breakup of 16O into the α+12,13C channels