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In order to investigate the contribution of $\alpha$ production in the reaction cross sections, measurements of elastic scattering and inclusive $\alpha$ particle angular distributions have been carried out with the $^9$Be projectile on $^{89}$Y, $^{124}$Sn, $^{159}$Tb, $^{198}$Pt, and $^{209}$Bi targets over a wide angular range at energies near the Coulomb barrier. The measured elastic scattering angular distributions were fitted with optical model calculations, and reaction cross sections were extracted. The same data were also analysed using both global optical model potentials (Global OMP) and microscopic S$\tilde{a}$o Paulo potentials (SPP), to obtain the reaction cross sections. The data available in the literature for $^9$Be projectile includes the elastic scattering angular distributions, $\alpha$ production cross sections, and complete fusion cross sections on these and other targets at several energies are also utilised for comparative studies. The reaction cross section extracted from the three potentials (Best Fit, Global OMP and SPP) are in reasonable agreement for all the targets except for the energies below the barrier where the results from SPP deviate by 30-50 \%. Inclusive $\alpha$ particle production cross sections were also extracted by integrating the $\alpha$ particle angular distributions. The present data and data available from literature of reaction and $\alpha$-particle production cross sections were utilised to make systematic studies. Systematics of reaction and $\alpha$-particle production cross sections revealed their universal behaviour., Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures

The collective enhancement of nuclear level density and its fade out with excitation energy in deformed $^{171}$Yb nucleus has been inferred through an exclusive measurement of neutron spectra.The statistical model analysis of neutron spectra demonstrated a large collective enhancement factor of 40$\pm$3 for the first time, which corroborates with the recent microscopic model predictions but is an anomalous result compared with the measurements in the nearby deformed nuclei. The complete picture of the energy dependent collective enhancement has been obtained by combining with Oslo data below neutron binding energy. The significance of large collective enhancement in radiative neutron capture cross section of astrophysical interest is highlighted., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures

One neutron stripping cross sections ($\sigma_{-1n}$) are measured in $^{9}$Be+$^{159}$Tb system in the energy range E$_{cm}$/V$_{B}$ $\sim$ 0.79 - 1.24 using offline gamma counting technique. The CRC model calculations including the ground state and the 2$^{+}$ resonance state of $^{8}$Be, carried out using the FRESCO code, give a reasonable description of the measured data. In addition, comparisons of reduced 1n-stripping cross sections- $\sigma_{red}$ with $^{9}$Be for different target nuclei (A $\sim$150-200), and $\sigma_{red}$ for $^{9}$Be, $^{6}$Li with $^{159}$Tb target are presented. While no strong target dependence is observed with $^{9}$Be projectile, $\sigma_{red}$($^{9}$Be) is significantly larger than that for $^{6}$Li, which is consistent with the Q-value for transfer reactions and breakup threshold energy of projectiles., Comment: 5 pages, 6 Figures

The origin of the large $\alpha$ particle production and incomplete fusion in reactions involving weakly-bound $\alpha$+$x$ cluster nuclei still remains unresolved. While the (two-step) process of breakup followed by capture of the ``free" complementary fragment ($x$) is widely believed to be responsible, a few recent studies suggest the dominant role of (direct) cluster stripping. To achieve an unambiguous experimental discrimination between these two processes, a coincidence measurement between the outgoing $\alpha$ particles and $\gamma$ rays from the heavy residues has been performed for the $^7$Li($\alpha$+triton)+$^{93}$Nb system. Proper choice of kinematical conditions allowed for the first time a significant population of the region accessible only to the direct triton stripping process and not to breakup followed by the capture of the ``free'' triton (from the three-body continuum). This result, also supported by a cluster-transfer calculation, clearly establishes the dominance of the direct cluster-stripping mechanism in the large alpha production.

Background: Multinucleon transfer reactions at energies around the Coulomb barrier offer a vital opportunity to study rich physics of nuclear structure and dynamics. Despite the continuous development in the field, we have still limited knowledge about how deformation - one of the representative nuclear structures - affects multinucleon transfer reactions. Purpose: To shed light on the effect of deformation in multinucleon transfer processes, we study the $^{16}$O+$^{154}$Sm reaction at $E_{\rm lab}$=85 MeV (around the Coulomb barrier) and 134 MeV (substantially above the Coulomb barrier), where the target nucleus, $^{154}$Sm, is a well-established, deformed nucleus. Results: Angular distributions for elastic scattering and for various transfer channels were measured over a wide angular range at the BARC-TIFR pelletron-Linac accelerator facility, Mumbai. The $Q$-value- and angle-integrated isotope production cross sections have been extracted from the measured angular distributions. The experimental data are analyzed along with time-dependent Hartree-Fock calculations. For the lower incident energy case, we find a reasonable agreement between the measurements and the TDHF calculations for a-few-nucleon transfer channels; whereas TDHF underestimates cross sections for many-nucleon transfers, consistent with earlier works. On the other side, we find that calculated cross sections for secondary reaction products for the higher incident energy case, qualitatively explains the measured trends of isotopic distributions observed for the lower energy. The latter observation indicates possible underestimation of excitation energies in the present TDHF+GEMINI analysis. Although certain orientation effects were observed in TDHF results, it is difficult to disentangle them from the $Q$-value- and angle-integrated production cross sections. (Shortened due to the arXiv's length limit.), Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures; v2 - Title has been revised. Analysis of TKEL spectra with two figures (Figs. 3 and 4) has been added. Version accepted for publication in Physical Review C

Fusion cross-sections have been measured for the asymmetric system 16O+165Ho at energies near and deep below the Coulomb barrier with an aim to investigate the occurrence of fusion hindrance for the system. Fusion cross sections down to ~ 700 nb have been measured using the off-beam gamma-ray technique. The fusion cross sections have been compared with the coupled channel calculations. Although the onset of fusion hindrance could not be observed experimentally, an indication of a small deviation of the experimental fusion cross-sections with respect to the calculated cross-sections could be observed at the lowest energy measured. However, the energy onset of fusion hindrance has been obtained from the extrapolation technique and is found to be about 2 MeV below the lowest energy of the present measurement.

In this work $\textit{n}$-transfer and incomplete fusion cross sections for $^{9}$Be + $^{197}$Au system are reported over a wide energy range, E$_{c.m.}$ $\approx$ 29-45 MeV. The experiment was carried out using activation technique and off-line gamma counting. The transfer process is found to be the dominant mode as compared to all other reaction channels. Detailed coupled reaction channel (CRC) calculations have been performed for $\textit{n}$-transfer stripping and pickup cross sections. The measured 1$\textit{n}$-stripping cross sections are explained with CRC calculations by including the ground state and the 2$^{+}$ resonance state (E = 3.03 MeV) of $^{8}$Be. The calculations for 1$\textit{n}$-pickup, including only the ground state of $^{10}$Be agree reasonably well with the measured cross sections, while it overpredicts the data at subbarrier energies. For a better insight into the role of projectile structure in the transfer process, a comprehensive analysis of 1$\textit{n}$-stripping reaction has been carried out for various weakly bound projectiles on $^{197}$Au target nucleus. The transfer cross sections scaled with the square of total radius of interacting nuclei show the expected Q-value dependence of 1$\textit{n}$-stripping channel for weakly bound stable projectiles.

Quasielastic scattering excitation function at large backward angle has been measured for the weakly bound system, $^{7}$Li+$^{159}$Tb at energies around the Coulomb barrier. The corresponding quasielastic barrier distribution has been derived from the excitation function, both including and excluding the $\alpha$-particles produced in the reaction. The centroid of the barrier distribution obtained after inclusion of $\alpha$-particles was found to be shifted higher in energy, compared to the distribution excluding the $\alpha $-particles. The quasielastic data, excluding the $\alpha$-particles, have been analyzed in the framework of continuum discretized coupled channel calculations. The quasielastic barrier distribution for $^{7}$Li+$^{159}$Tb, has also been compared with the fusion barrier distribution for the system.

To probe the role of the intrinsic structure of the projectile on sub-barrier fusion, measurement of fusion cross sections has been carried out in $^{9}$Be + $^{197}$Au system in the energy range E$_{c.m.}$/V$_B$ $\approx$ 0.82 to 1.16 using off-beam gamma counting method. Measured fusion excitation function has been analyzed in the framework of the coupled-channel approach using CCFULL code. It is observed that the coupled-channel calculations, including couplings to the inelastic state of the target and the first two states of the rotational band built on the ground state of the projectile, provide a very good description of the sub-barrier fusion data. At above barrier energies, the fusion cross section is found to be suppressed by $\approx$ 39(2)\% as compared to the coupled-channel prediction. A comparison of reduced excitation function of $^{9}$Be + $^{197}$Au with other $x$ + $^{197}$Au shows a larger enhancement for $^9$Be in the sub-barrier region amongst Z=2-5 weakly and tightly bound projectiles, which indicates the prominent role of the projectile deformation in addition to the weak binding., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, Submitted to Phys. Rev. C

To disentangle the role of shell effects and dynamics, fission fragment mass distributions of $^{191}$Au, a nucleus in the newly identified island of mass asymmetric fission in the sub-lead region, have been measured down to excitation energy of $\approx$20 MeV above the fission barrier via two different entrance channels, viz. $^{16}$O+$^{175}$Lu and $^{37}$Cl+$^{154}$Sm reactions. Apart from having signature of the shell effects in both the cases, clear experimental evidence of quasifission has been observed in the mass distributions of the Cl induced reaction, that has also been substantiated by the theoretical calculations. This crucial evidence along with a systematic analysis of available experimental data has revealed that the dynamics in the entrance channel has significant influence on most of the reactions used earlier to explore the persistence of recently discovered mass asymmetry in $\beta$-delayed fission at low energy in this mass region, ignoring which might lead to ambiguity in interpreting the heavy-ion data., Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures

Accurate knowledge of the response of the detection system is very crucial for unambiguous interpretation of the experimental data. A simulation code has been developed using the Monte Carlo technique involving 3-body kinematics for the analysis of data obtained with segmented large area Si $\Delta E-E$ detector telescopes in nuclear reaction measurements. Care was taken in the analysis to maximize the angular coverage and statistics. The emphasis is placed to extract the absolute cross sections of the different reaction processes, for which coincident measurements are unavoidable. The estimated detection efficiency of different coincidence events are found to depend on various parameters, e.g., the relative energy of the breakup fragments, incident beam energy of the projectile, ground state $Q$-value of the reaction, the excitation of the ejectile as well as target like nuclei, mass asymmetry of the breakup fragments, detection threshold, and geometric solid angle of the detection setup. The interpretation of the various observables from the exclusive measurements of breakup and transfer breakup reactions is reported., Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures

In beam test experiments have been carried out for particle identification using digital pulse shape analysis in a 500~$\mu$m thick Neutron Transmutation Doped (nTD) silicon detector with an indigenously developed FPGA based 12 bit resolution, 1 GHz sampling digitizer. The nTD Si detector was used in a low-field injection setup to detect light heavy-ions produced in reactions of $\sim$ 5 MeV/A $^{7}$Li and $^{12}$C beams on different targets. Pulse height, rise time and current maximum have been obtained from the digitized charge output of a high bandwidth charge and current sensitive pre-amplifier. Good isotopic separation have been achieved using only the digitized charge output in case of light heavy-ions. The setup can be used for charged particle spectroscopy in nuclear reactions involving light heavy-ions around the Coulomb barrier energies., Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures

The complete and incomplete fusion cross sections for $^{7}$Li+$^{124}$Sn reaction were measured using online and offline characteristic $\gamma$-ray detection techniques. The complete fusion (CF) cross sections at energies above the Coulomb barrier were found to be suppressed by $\sim$ 26 \% compared to the coupled channel calculations. This suppression observed in complete fusion cross sections is found to be commensurate with the measured total incomplete fusion (ICF) cross sections. There is a distinct feature observed in the ICF cross sections, i.e., $\textit{t}$-capture is found to be dominant than $\alpha$-capture at all the measured energies. A simultaneous explanation of complete, incomplete and total fusion (TF) data was also obtained from the calculations based on Continuum Discretized Coupled Channel method with short range imaginary potentials. The cross section ratios of CF/TF and ICF/TF obtained from the data as well as the calculations showed the dominance of ICF at below barrier energies and CF at above barrier energies., Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures

The reaction mechanism of deep-inelastic multinucleon transfer processes in the $^{16}$O+$^{27}$Al reaction at an incident $^{16}$O energy ($E_{\rm lab}=134$ MeV) substantially above the Coulomb barrier has been studied both experimentally and theoretically. Elastic-scattering angular distribution, total kinetic energy loss spectra and angular distributions for various transfer channels have been measured. The $Q$-value- and angle-integrated isotope production cross sections have been deduced. To obtain deeper insight into the underlying reaction mechanism, we have carried out a detailed analysis based on the time-dependent Hartree-Fock (TDHF) theory. A recently developed method, TDHF+GEMINI, has been applied to evaluate production cross sections for secondary products. From a comparison between the experimental and theoretical cross sections, we find that the theory qualitatively reproduces the experimental data. Significant effects of secondary light-particle emissions are demonstrated. Possible interplay between fusion-fission, deep-inelastic, multinucleon transfer and particle evaporation processes are discussed., Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures, 1 table, including Supplemental Material; v2 - two figures and one table added, revised according to the Referee's suggestions

The two-step process of transfer followed by breakup is explored by measuring a rather complete set of exclusive data for reaction channels populating states in the ejectile continua of the $^7$Li+$^{93}$Nb system at energies close to the Coulomb barrier. The cross sections for $\alpha+\alpha$ events from one proton pickup were found to be smaller than those for $\alpha+d$ events from one neutron stripping and $\alpha+t$ events from direct breakup of $^7$Li. Coupled channels Born approximation and continuum discretized coupled channels calculations describe the data well and support the conclusion that the $\alpha+d$ and $\alpha+\alpha$ events are produced by direct transfer to unbound states of the ejectile., Comment: Published in Phys. Rev. C (Rapid Communication) 93, 061602(R) (2016)

Measurements of fusion cross-sections of 7Li and 12C with 198Pt at deep sub-barrier energies are reported to unravel the role of the entrance channel in the occurrence of fusion hindrance. The onset of fusion hindrance has been clearly observed in 12C + 198Pt system but not in 7Li + 198Pt system, within the measured energy range. Emergence of the hindrance, moving from lighter (6,7Li) to heavier (12C,16O) projectiles is explained employing a model that considers a gradual transition from a sudden to adiabatic regime at low energies. The model calculation reveals a weak effect of the damping of coupling to collective motion for the present systems as compared to that obtained for systems with heavier projectiles., Comment: Accepted in Phys. Letts. B

Online tracking of human activity against a complex background is a challenging task for many applications. In this paper, we have developed a robust technique for localizing skin colour regions from unconstrained image frames. A simple and fast segmentation algorithm is used to train a multiplayer perceptron (MLP) for detection of skin colours. Stepper motors are synchronized with the MLP to track the movement of the skin colour regions.

The nucleosynthesis of elements beyond iron is dominated by neutron captures in the s and r processes. However, 32 stable, proton-rich isotopes cannot be formed during those processes, because they are shielded from the s-process flow and r-process beta-decay chains. These nuclei are attributed to the p and rp process. For all those processes, current research in nuclear astrophysics addresses the need for more precise reaction data involving radioactive isotopes. Depending on the particular reaction, direct or inverse kinematics, forward or time-reversed direction are investigated to determine or at least to constrain the desired reaction cross sections. The Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) will offer unique, unprecedented opportunities to investigate many of the important reactions. The high yield of radioactive isotopes, even far away from the valley of stability, allows the investigation of isotopes involved in processes as exotic as the r or rp processes., Comment: Invited Talk given at the Conference Nuclear Physice in Astrophysics VI (NPA6), Lisbon, Portugal, May 19-24 2013. To appear in the NPA6 Proceedings in Journal of Physics: Conference Series (JPCS)

Two cluster structures of 9Be namely, 5He+4He and 8Be+n have been considered for its breakup to describe the available data on elastic scattering for 9Be projectile with 28Si, 64Zn and 144Sm targets. The results of these calculations suggest that the breakup coupling effects are significant for 5He+4He cluster model at above the barrier energies, while they are dominant at relatively lower energies for 8Be+n model. The addition of one neutron stripping channel in the 8Be+n model gives an overall good description of the elastic data for all the systems considered. The couplings generated by breakup in 8Be+n model have different behaviour than the coupling effects obtained within the 5He+4He model, the former being more prominent at lower energies and for the heavier target systems. The behaviour of extracted dynamic polarisation potentials (DPP) generated due to breakup and one neutron transfer couplings have been investigated., Comment: Accepted in Phys. Rev. C

Inclusive energy spectra of the complex fragments (3 $\leq$ Z $\leq$ 5) emitted in the reactions $^{12}$C (77 MeV)+ $^{28}$Si, $^{11}$B (64 MeV)+ $^{28}$Si and $^{12}$C (73 MeV)+ $^{27}$Al (all having the same excitation energy of $ \sim$ 67 MeV), have been measured in the angular range of 10$^\circ$ $\lesssim \theta_{lab} \lesssim$ 60$^\circ$. The fully energy damped (fusion-fission) and the partially energy damped (deep inelastic) components of the fragment energy spectra have been extracted. It has been found that the yields of the fully energy damped fragments for all the above reactions are in conformity with the respective statistical model predictions. The time scales of various deep inelastic fragment emissions have been extracted from the angular distribution data. The angular momentum dissipation in deep inelastic collisions has been estimated from the data and it has been found to be close to the corresponding sticking limit value., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures

The 1p transfer channel in the $^{27}$Al($^{12}$C, $^{11}$B)$^{28}$Si reaction has been studied at E$_{lab}$ = 73, 81 and 85 MeV. The finite range distorted wave Born approximation calculations have been performed using phenomenological optical model potential to analyze the angular distributions for 3 transitions populating the 0.0, 1.78 and 4.62 MeV states of $^{28}$Si and 2 transitions populating the 2.12 and 4.44 MeV states of $^{11}$B via the $^{27}$Al($^{12}$C, $^{11}$B)$^{28}$Si reaction. The spectroscopic strengths as well as spectroscopic factors have been extracted for all the five states. The extracted strength values are compared with shell model calculations., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables

Recently Watts and Strogatz have given an interesting model of small-world networks. Here we concretise the concept of a ``far away'' connection in a network by defining a {\it far edge}. Our definition is algorithmic and independent of underlying topology of the network. We show that it is possible to control spread of an epidemic by using the knowledge of far edges. We also suggest a model for better advertisement using the far edges. Our findings indicate that the number of far edges can be a good intrinsic parameter to characterize small-world phenomena., Comment: 9 pages and 6 figures