THE NUCLEAR-LEVEL DENSITY PARAMETER AND NUCLEAR-STRUCTURE EFFECTS AT FINITE-TEMPERATURE

The temperature dependence of the nuclear level density parameter is extracted from data and compared with results obtained by using the statistical model of nuclear reactions. The analysis of the results suggests that the temperature dependence of the level density parameter can be interpreted in terms of the temperature dependence of the nucleon separation energy. It is found that the observed behaviour of the level density parameter, as a function of the temperature, is consistent with the known temperature dependence of the fission barrier.