Alpha capture to the giant dipole resonances of 42Ca, 44Ca and 52Cr

Differential cross sections for the ${}^{38}\text{Ar}\text{(α, γ}{}_0\text{)}{}^{42}\text{Ca}\text{,}{}^{40}\text{Ar}\text{(α, γ}{}_{\mathrm{0,\; 1}}\text{)}{}^{44}\text{Ca and}{}^{48}\text{Ti}\text{(α, γ}{}_{\mathrm{0,\; 1}}\text{)}{}^{52}\text{Cr}$ reactions were measured at 90° to the beam direction in 50 or 100 keV steps over the bombarding energy ranges 6.0–15.0 MeV, 5.5–11.1 MeV and 6.0–12.0 MeV respectively. Gamma-ray angular distributions were measured at forty bombarding energies. These show that the (α, γ₀) reaction proceeds through 1^? levels and to a lesser extent 2⁺ levels, whereas the (α, γ₁) reaction most probably proceeds through 1^? and 3^? levels. It is deduced that 〈Γ〉/〈D〉 ≦ 1 for the ⁴⁰Ar(α, γ)⁴⁴Ca. reaction whereas the fine structure observed in the ⁴⁸Ti(α, γ)⁵²Cr reaction is probably due to fluctuations. From a comparison with other data it is shown that the (α, γ) reaction is most probably statistical in nature. Using Hauser-Feshbach theory it is deduced that the ³⁶Ar(α, γ)⁴⁰Ca. reaction is inhibited by isospin selection rules and an estimate is made of isospin mixing in the ⁴⁰Ca giant dipole resonance. The ${}^{38}\text{Ar}\text{(α, γ)}{}^2{}^{42}\text{Ca and}{}^{40}\text{Ar}\text{(α, γ)}{}^{44}\text{Ca}$ data are considered with respect to theories of isosopin splitting of the giant dipole resonance.