Statistical theory of precompound reactions: The multistep compound process

Using a quantum-statistical framework, the method of the generating function involving both commuting and anticommuting variables, and the saddle-point approximation followed by the loop expansion, we derive a theoretical framework for multistep-compound reactions. Our statistical input distinguishes between several classes of states of increasing complexity; this distinction is possible only at the expense of relinquishing the orthogonal invariance of the distribution of Hamiltonian matrix elements usually required in compound-nucleus theories. Our result contains both the compound-nucleus scattering cross section and the theory of Agassi Weidenmüller, and Montzouranis (Phys. Lett. C 22 (1975), 145.) developed earlier as special cases. It goes beyond this theory, and extends the framework of precompound theories in general, by allowing the couplings between classes, and to the channels, to be reasonably strong. A self-consistency condition embodied in the saddle-point equation implies in this case that the level densities used in precompound calculations must be modified. We investigate the modification in simple model cases. Our results suggest that the modification may be relevant for the high-energy tail of the spectrum of precompound particles.