Probing the width of compound states with rotational gamma rays

The intrinsic width of (multiparticle-multihole) compound states is an elusive quantity, of difficult direct access, as it is masked by damping mechanisms which control the collective response of nuclei. Through microscopic cranked shell model calculations, it is found that the strength function associated with two-dimensional gamma-coincidence spectra arising from rotational transitions between states lying at energies >1 MeV above the yrast line, exhibits a two-component structure controlled by the rotational (wide component) and compound (narrow component) damping width. This last component is found to be directly related to the width of the multiparticle-multihole autocorrelation function.