  The intrinsic width of (multiparticle-multihole) compound states is an
elusive quantity, of difficult direct access, as it is masked by damping
mechanisms which control the collective response of nuclei. Through microscopic
cranked shell model calculations, it is found that the strength function
associated with two-dimensional gamma-coincidence spectra arising from
rotational transitions between states lying at energies >1 MeV above the yrast
line, exhibits a two-component structure controlled by the rotational (wide
component) and compound (narrow component) damping width. This last component
is found to be directly related to the width of the multiparticle-multihole
autocorrelation function.
