Residual two-body matrix elements for pre-equilibrium calculations

The effective matrix elements which appear in pre-equilibrium calculations in the rate expressions for the residual two-body interactions have been evaluated from analyses of emitted particle energy spectra. Probably because of details in the model formulation, the results are found to depend on the nature of the projectile. They are, however, of reasonable magnitude and show a mass number and excitation energy dependence consistent with predictions based on calculations of mean free paths in nuclear matter. The square of the empirical effective matrix element is found to approximately obey the relation M² = K_aA⁻³E⁻¹ with the values of K_a = 95 MeV³ and 725 MeV³ applying to proton and α-particle induced reactions respectively. The quantities A and E are the mass number and excitation energy of the system respectively.