Critical assessment of particle decay as a probe to study the continuum - art. no. 024610

Quantities that determine the structure of the continuum part of nuclear sp ectra are studied in detail. Measurable particle (proton) decay processes a re discussed and formulas to evaluate the corresponding decay widths are an alyzed. It is shown that the decaying resonances are so narrow that such pr ocesses can be treated as if the nucleus was bound and, therefore, they are not suitable to probe formalisms designed to treat the continuum. Other pr ocesses that are more sensitive to broad resonances are analyzed and sugges tions for probable experiments are made.