Experimental proposal for accurate determination of the phase relaxation time and testing the formation of thermalized non-equilibrated matter in highly excited quantum many-body systems

We estimate how accurate the phase relaxation time of quantum many-body systems can be determined from data on forward peaking of evaporating protons from a compound nucleus. The angular range and accuracy of the data needed for a reliable determination of the phase relaxation time are evaluated. The general method is applied to analyze the inelastic scattering of 18 MeV protons from Pt for which previously measured double differential cross sections for two angles in the evaporating domain of the spectra show a strong forward peaking. A new experiment for an improved determination of the phase relaxation time is proposed. The experiment is also highly desirable for an accurate test of a formation of thermalized non-equilibrated matter in quantum many-body systems.