Ericson fluctuations in dissipative collisions

We generalize Ericson's theory of fluctuations to deep inelastic reactions. Following Ericson we assume that theS-matrixS _βα(E, l) can be written as a sum of pole terms in the complex energy plane, but the dependence ofS _βα (E, l) on the angular momentuml is assumed to be coherent. Semi-classical approximations for the summation of the angular momenta lead to a simple formula for the energy autocorrelation function. It contains the average widthΓ(l) describing the lifetimeτ(l) of the intermediate dinuclear system and the numberN _eff of unresolved primary channels. These quantities can be determined from a measurement of the autocorrelation function.