Decay of the compound nucleus 74Kr formed in the reaction 16O + 58Ni

Gamma-ray and charged-particle emission has been studied after bombardment of ⁵⁸Ni with ¹⁶O at energies from 44.5–76.5 MeV. The excitation functions for various reaction channels have been measured. The locus in energy and spin of maximum cross section (the entry line) of the γ-emitting region in the 2pγ and 3pγ channels have been studied through measurement of γ-ray multiplicity, average particle energy and average γ-ray energy. The standard deviations in both energy and spin of the distributions of cross section are presented. Statistical model calculations including shell corrections in the level density show very satisfactory agreement with the experimental results. The moment of inertia at high spin and excitation energy is deduced from the measured entry line.