Theoretical approach for studies on particle-particle angular correlations in nuclear reactions induced by light and semiheavy ions with an incident energy up to 10 MeV/nucleon is developed. The generalized methods for calculations of the angular correlation functions and the spin tensors of the density matrix for the reaction products based on the distorted-wave model with finite interaction range and the compound nucleus model are presented for reactions involving high-lying excited states. The differential cross sections and $d-\alpha$ correlation functions in the ${}^{12}\mathrm{C}{(}^{14}\mathrm{N}{,d)}^{24}{\mathrm{Mg}}^{*}(\alpha {)}^{20}\mathrm{Ne}$ reaction induced by ${}^{14}\mathrm{N}$ ions at $E_{\mathrm{lab}}=29\mathrm{}–45\mathrm{MeV}$ are analyzed both in the framework of the model of direct ${}^{12}\mathrm{C}$ transfer and the statistical compound nucleus model. The reduced width amplitudes for the higher-excited states in ${}^{24}\mathrm{Mg}$ with ${}^{12}\mathrm{C}{\otimes }^{12}\mathrm{C}$ quasimolecular structure are extracted. The importance of relative motion of ${}^{12}\mathrm{C}{+}^{12}{\mathrm{C}}^{*}$ nuclei is demonstrated.

• Received 9 May 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.66.034604