Experimental excitation functions for the emission of complex fragments from compound nuclei are analyzed to search for atomic number $Z$ and energy $E$ dependent deviations from transition-state-method predictions. No $Z$ and/or $E$ dependent effects that could be attributed to an increased collectivity with increasing mass (charge) of the emitted fragment and associated with transient or stationary solutions of Kramers' diffusion equation are visible. Over seventy excitation functions, for complex fragments from four different compound nuclei, can be collapsed into a single universal straight line that is rigorously consistent with the transitions-state predictions.

• Received 29 September 1994

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.74.3557