Possible dynamical limitations to excitation energy storage in nuclei

The dependence of the relative populations of particle unbound states on the associated charged particle multiplicity and on the total kinetic energy of the two decay products was investigated for ⁴⁰Ar induced reactions on ¹⁹⁷Au at E/A = 60 MeV. The measurements indicate that the relative populations exhibit little sensitivity to the violence of the collision and to the time of emission. Implications of these results on the dynamics of the reaction are discussed.