Search for intermediate structure in 36Ar via the 24Mg(12C, α)32S reaction

The ²⁴Mg(¹²C,α)³²S reaction was investigated in the energy range E_c.m. = 11.9–19.4 MeV by measuring excitation functions of the α₀ and α₁ groups. Angular distributions (θ_c.m. = 12–97°) were also measured at a number of energies. The excitation functions were subjected to a statistical analysis by means of evaluating correlation and deviation functions; no statistically significant anomalies were found. The α₀ angular distributions display fairly high angular-momentum selectivity as pairs of Legendre polynomials provide acceptable fits to most of them: however, only one, at E_c.m. = 18.1 MeV, is strongly dominated by a single partial wave, l = 11. Excitation functions as well as angular distributions of both α₀ and α₁ cross sections were found to be in good qualitative agreement with Hauser-Feshbach calculations throughout the energy range studied. Thus, the analysis of the data shows that intermediate resonant structures, if present, are weak and interfere strongly with the statistical compound-nucleus background, which effectively prevents their clear observation and identification in the present study.