Alpha cluster structure in 56Ni

The inelastic ?-scattering experiment on 56Ni in inverse kinematics was performed at an incident energy of 50 MeV/u at GANIL. A very high multiplicity for ?-particle emission was observed with our phase-space limited experimental set-up. The maximum observed multiplicity, which cannot be explained by means of the statistical decay model, amounted to seven. The ideal classical gas model at kT = 3 MeV fairly well reproduced the experimental momentum distribution and multiplicity of alpha particles. This result strongly suggests that an alpha-gas state in 56Ni may be excited via inelastic alpha scattering.