Systematics and mechanisms of α production with weakly and strongly bound projectiles

A systematic study of the α -particle production in reactions involving both the weakly and strongly bound projectiles at energies around the Coulomb barrier has been performed and a distinction based on projectile type is obtained. The significant contribution of break up of projectile like nucleus after neutron transfer apart from processes like direct break up of the projectile, capture of a fragment of the projectile by the target leaving α as a spectator suggest that both α and neutron binding energies play a vital role in α production. In view of this, it is suggested that E ^av_α , average of α binding energies of the projectile and projectile like nucleus after neutron transfer is a suitable variable to describe the α production data for variety of projectiles.