Mechanism of the 12C(24Mg,12C12C)12C breakup reaction: Direct vs compound

A backward angle measurement has been made of the angular distribution for the states in Mg-24 that decay by symmetric fission to C-12 + C-12 in the C-12((24M)g,(CC)-C-12-C-12)C-12 reaction. A comparison with previous very Forward angle measurements indicates a substantial asymmetry in the angular distribution, averaged over a range of excitation energies in Mg-24. The observed degree of forward-backward asymmetry is reasonably well reproduced by coupled channels calculations assuming a direct inelastic scattering mechanism. Combining this information with previous measurements of the energy systematics supports direct inelastic excitation as the most likely reaction mechanism leading to the fissioning levels.