Giant Dipole Resonance in Highly Excited Nuclei: Does the Width Saturate?

Abstract

We examine the behavior of the width of the giant dipole resonance (GDR) at high excitation energies and show, based on new detailed measurements together with a reanalysis of previous experimental results, that the GDR width in Sn and nearby mass compound nuclei continues to increase up to final-state temperatures $T\ensuremath{\sim}3.2\mathrm{MeV}$. These temperatures correspond to the highest energies at which the GDR width can be extracted reliably from existing data.