Pre-equilibrium emission of α-particles with energies down to the region of those from compound nucleus decay

At incident energies in the 100 to 200 MeV range, nucleon-induced inclusive reactions with emission of light composite particles (such as α-particles) into the continuum, display an enhanced yield which increases as the emission energy drops towards compound-nucleus values. It is postulated that a simple reaction mechanism, which clearly manifests itself in some (p, pα) knockout studies as sequential decay from inelastic excitation, should be investigated more carefully as a possible explanation of the observed phenomenon in inclusive studies.