Fragmentation of12C nuclei in emulsion at 50 GeV/c

A total of 852¹²C-emulsion nucleus interactions at 4.2 GeV/c per incident nucleon was investigated. At least one charged projectile fragment was observed in 733 events, in which the multiplicity and angular distributions ofZ=1,2, and ≧3 projectile fragments were studied. Five events were observed in which¹²C projectile nuclei were fragmented into twoZ=3 fragments. Thus the cross section of this process is about 6×10^?3 of the inelastic cross section. The angular distribution of projectile fragments becomes narrower as the fragment charge increases. At all values of fragment charges, a pronounced peak in the angular distribution can be observed at zero emission angle. In this paper, only the projectile-fragmentation events possessing no heavily ionizing particle (n _h =0 events) have been investigated. Our sample contains 84 of these events, i.e., about 10% of the total inelastic events. The number of events withZ _max, the charge of the emitted principal fragment, equal to 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 are 11, 52, 13, 4, and 4, respectively. Of these 84 events, 36 interactions have a total charge of emitted projectile fragmentsZ ^* equal to 6, i.e., as much as the beam chargeZ _p . Of the 36 events, 17 produce no charged pions and of the 17 events, 10 only represent the dissociation of¹²C→3α, i.e., 1.2% of the total inelastic interactions. The number of events withZ ^*=5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 are 27, 14, 4, 2, and 1, respectively. The average number of produced charged pions per one interacting projectile nucleon was estimated to be 1.2±0.1. This value agrees with the corresponding one in elementary interaction at the same energy per nucleon, a result pertaining to the incoherent production model in collision of two nuclei. In this class of events,n _h =0, the number of stars in which H, He, Li, Be, and B isotopes were detected are 59, 58, 13, 4, and 4, respectively. The projected angular distributions ofZ=1 and 2 projectile fragments are Gaussian shaped, narrow, consistent with isotropy, and depend on the fragment. These distributions are consistent with quantum mechanical calculations using the sudden approximation and shell-model functions. From the angular measurements ofα-particle tracks in the dissociation¹²C→3α events, the distribution ofα-particle transverse momentum inside the carbon projectile nucleus was deduced. It seems that the dissociation of¹²C→3α happens via an intermediate⁸Be state.     

Study of the Involvement of <Superscript>8</Superscript>Be and <Superscript>9</Superscript>B Nuclei in the Dissociation of Relativistic <Superscript>10</Superscript>C, <Superscript>10</Superscript>B,and <Superscript>12</Superscript>C Nuclei

The results obtained by estimating the contribution of 8Be and 9B nuclei to the coherent dissociation of ¹⁰C, ¹⁰B, and ¹²C relativistic nuclei in nuclear track emulsions (“white” stars) are presented. The selection of white stars accompanied by 9B leads to a distinct peak appearing in the distribution of the excitation energy of 2α2p ensembles and having a maximum at 4.1 ± 0.3 MeV. A 8Be nucleus manifests itself in the coherent-dissociation reaction ¹⁰B → ²He + H with a probability of (25 ± 5)%, (14 ± 3)% of it being due to 9B decays. The ratio of the branching fractions of the ⁹B + n and ⁹Be + p mirror channels is estimated at 6 ± 1. An analysis of the relativistic dissociation of ¹²C nuclei in a nuclear track emulsion revealed nine 3α events corresponding to the Hoyle state.     

Resonant effects in the12C+12C→8Be gs +16O gs reaction aroundE cm=32.5 MeV

The¹²C+¹²C→⁸Be _gs +1¹⁶O _gs reaction has been studied at c.m. energies of 27.9, 32.5 and 35.0 MeV. The energy dependence of the cross section is consistent with a resonant behaviour like the one observed for two¹²C nuclei excited in a very deformed state in the final channel. The angular distributions for the two reactions show also a similar oscillatory behaviour. The analysis suggests that the reaction proceeds through the formation of an intermediate state with a complex nature, involving largely deformed configurations as well as almost spherical ones.     

Peripheral fragmentation of 8B nuclei in nuclear emulsion at an energy of 1.2 GeV per nucleon

The results obtained by studying the charge topology of fragments produced in the peripheral dissociation of relativistic ⁸B nuclei in emulsion are presented. Fifty-five events of the peripheral dissociation of a ⁸B nucleus in events where there was no production of target-nucleus fragments and mesons (“white stars”) were selected. A leading contribution of the ⁸B → ⁷Be + p mode, which has the lowest energy threshold, was revealed on the basis of these events. Information about the branching ratios for dissociation modes characterized by a higher multiplicity was obtained. The dissociation of the ⁷Be core in ⁸B bears resemblance to the dissociation of a free ⁷Be nucleus. The transverse-momentum distributions of fragments originating from the ⁸B → ⁷Be + p dissociation mode were obtained. For these distributions, a small mean value of 〈P*_T〉 = 52 ± 5 MeV/c in the c.m. frame suggests a low binding energy of the outer proton in the ⁸B nucleus. An indication of a strong azimuthal correlation of the fragments ⁷Be and p was found.     

Electromagnetic dissociation of relativistic 8B nuclei in nuclear track emulsion

Experimental data on fragmentation channels in peripheral interactions of ⁸B nuclei in nuclear track emulsions are presented. A detailed analysis made it possible to justify selections of events of the electromagnetic-dissociation process ⁸B → ⁷Be + p and to estimate its cross section. Events of ¹⁰C peripheral dissociation that were observed in the same exposure are described.     

Possible mechanisms of fragmentation of 16O nuclei with a momentum of 4.5 GeV/c per nucleon in track emulsions

The angular distributions of doubly charged fragments of ¹⁶O nuclei having a momentum of 4.5 GeV/c per nucleon and interacting with track-emulsion nuclei were studied. The experimental angular distributions of doubly charged fragments of a ¹⁶O nucleus are not described by the statistical model of the fragmentation of nuclei. The possible channels of fragmentation of ¹⁶O nuclei may include ¹⁶O → 2⁸Be → 4α, ¹⁶O → ⁸Be +⁸ Be* → 4α, ¹⁶O → 2⁸Be* → 4α, ¹⁶O → α+¹²C, ¹⁶O → α +¹²C* → α + 3α, ¹⁶O → α +¹²C* → α + pα ⁷Li, ¹⁶O → α +¹²C* → α + 2⁶Li, ¹⁶O → α +¹²C* → α + pt2α, ¹⁶O → Li + B, and ¹⁶O → Li* + B*.     

Intermediate width structures in the 12C(12C,8Beg.s.)16O reaction at E c.m. =20 to 30 MeV

The ¹²C(¹²C,⁸Be_g.s.)¹⁶O reaction cross section has been measured at center-of-mass energies between 20 and 30 MeV. Intermediate width structures have been observed for the reactions leading to the ground state and two doublets of states, 6.05/6.13 MeV and 6.92/7.12 MeV, in ¹⁶O. For the ⁸Be_g.s.+¹⁶O_g.s. channel the dominant angular momenta contributing to several structures have been deduced by the analysis of the excitation functions at selected center-of-mass angles. Correlations between the structures in the ⁸Be_g.s.+¹⁶O_g.s. channel and in other inelastic scattering channels in the E _c.m. = 30 MeV region are discussed. An interpretation of the resonances in terms of current structural models is given     

Soft gluon corrections to large-pT direct photon and dilepton production

QCD O(α_s²) corrections to large-p_T real and virtual photon production from scattering in the quark-gluon channel are studied in the soft gluon limit. In this limit we carefully preserve the analytic structure of amplitudes in the small-momenta integration regions. The result is a rather large correction to the Born term which significantly improves the agreement with data on p + p → γ + X. The application of the approach to other processes is discussed and the dominant terms of the O(α_s²) correction to e⁺e^? → three jets are reproduced.     

Study of proton dissociation into ΛK+ in 3-body final states at 10 and 16 GeV/c

Results are presented for p → (ΛK⁺) dissociation in the reactions K^?p → ΛK⁺K^? and and π^±p → ΛK⁺π^±at 10 and 16 GeV/c. The cross sections for the low-mass ΛK⁺ enhancement are compatible with the energy dependence σ ∝ p_lab^?0.3. The t′ spectra or the (ΛK⁺) threshold enhancement are exponential in shape. Its decay angular distribution reveals neither s-channel nor t-channel helicity conservation. The relative probabilities of the processes $\text{p}\text{→}\text{p, p}\text{→ (}\text{N}\text{π)}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>I=</mtext><mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{and p}\text{→ (Λ}\text{K}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{)}$ dissociation are in the ratios 100 : 10 : 0.2, independent of the nature of the incident particle.     

Calculation of anharmonic effects in the unimolecular dissociation of M2+(H2O)2 (M = Be,Mg, and Ca)

The anharmonic and harmonic rate constants of the unimolecular dissociation of M²⁺(H₂O)₂ (M = Be, Mg, and Ca) were calculated using the Rice–Ramsperger–Kassel–Marcus theory. The anharmonic effects of the reactions were investigated. The results show that the energy barrier of the dissociation of Be²⁺(H₂O)₂ is 68.47 kcal/mol, and the anharmonic (T_4000K = 4.28×10⁸ s^?1) and harmonic (T_4000K = 4.22×10⁸ s^?1) rate constants were close in value in both the canonical and microcanonical systems. The energy barriers of the two steps for the dissociation, Mg²⁺(H₂O)₂ → MgOH⁺+H₃O⁺, were 37.41 and 11.39 kcal/mol, and those for the dissociation, Ca²⁺(H₂O)₂ → CaOH⁺+H₃O⁺, were 21.15 and 26.42 kcal/mol. The anharmonic effect of the two reactions is significant and cannot be neglected in both the canonical and microcanonical systems. The comparison also shows that the rate constants of the dissociation of Ca²⁺(H₂O)₂ have the maximum values, while those of Be²⁺(H₂O)₂ have the minimum values in the three reactions; however, the anharmonic effect also shows the similar trend in the comparison.     

Two-center molecular states in9B,9Be,10Be,and10B

The molecular states in the mass 9 and 10 nuclei, which consist of two α-particles plus one or two valence nucleons (protons or neutrons) are discussed. Arguments for the existence of two-center dimers as excited states in¹⁰Be and corresponding resonances (p+⁹Be) in¹⁰B are given. The latter states are observed as anomalous (non statistical) population in the final state interactions in thep+⁹Be channel in various heavy ion collisions. With the establishment of two-center states (dimers) based on the αα-potential and a localized binding via two nucleons in¹⁰Be, the existence of more extended structures (multimers) by adding (α2n) structures to¹⁰Be* is postulated. Generally clustering intoα-particles and nucleons in terms of molecular states is expected to occur at excitation energies close to the threshold for these substructures in analogy to the clustering rules of Ikeda forα-particle nuclei. Consequences to clustering properties of neutron rich nuclei are discussed.     

The charge radii of198Pt-183Pt

The reactions⁵⁸Ni+¹⁰²Pd→¹⁶⁰W and⁵⁸Ni+¹⁰⁶Cd→¹⁶⁴Os were investigated to search for new decay data of neutron deficient nuclei. Excitation energies of the compound nuclei covered a range from 47 to 89 MeV. Velocity separation of the evaporation residues and position time correlations with the a decays of the implanted nuclei were used. The following new decay data were measured:¹⁶²Os (E_α=(6611 ±30) keV, T_1/2=(1.9±0.7) ms);¹⁵⁸W (T_1/2=(0.9±0.3) ms);¹⁵⁸m_W (E=1.88 MeV, E_α=(8280±30) keV, T_1/2=(0.01-1) ms);^155mLu (E_α=(5575±10) keV); β decay of¹⁵⁶Ta (T_1/2 > 10 ms) to the 8⁺ yrast isomer in¹⁵⁶Hf. A cross section of 5μb was measured for the new isotope¹⁵⁶Ta produced in a p3n evaporation channel from¹⁶⁰W at 64 MeV excitation energy.     

Features of the 9Be → 2He fragmentation in an emulsion for an energy of 1.2 GeV per nucleon

The results of investigation of the fragmentation of relativistic nuclei ⁹Be in an emulsion, which is accompanied by the formation of two 1.2-A-GeV He fragments, are presented. The angular measurements of the ⁹Be → 2He events are analyzed. The ⁹Be → ⁸Be + n fragmentation channel with the decay of ⁸Be from the ground (0⁺) and first excited (2⁺) states into a pair of α particles appears to be dominant.     

On the lifetime of charged charmed particles first direct observation of a charmed baryon decay

Two new examples of production by neutrinos and subsequent decay of charged charmed hadrons are reported. Together with two similar events reported previously they show that the lifetime of charged charmed particles is in the neighbourhood of 5 × 10^?13 s, as expected from current theoretical models. One of the new events is identified as a baryon λ_c⁺ of mass 2.295 ± 0.015 GeV/c² which undergoes the decay process λ_c⁺ → pπ⁺K^? with a proper decay time (7.3 ± 0.1) × 10^?13 s.     

A measurement of the branching ratio for the∑ + →pγ decay

We have measured the weak radiative decay branching ratio (∑ ⁺ →pγ)/(∑ ⁺ →pπ⁰). The experiment was carried out at Brookhaven National Laboratory using a low-energy separatedK ^? beam stopping in liquid hydrogen. The∑ ⁺ was tagged by observing the pion fromK ^? K ⁺ p→∑ ⁺π^? in a range telescope, and the gamma was detected in a segmented NaI detector. The result is (2.81±0.39 _?0.43 ^+0.21 )×10^?3, which is consistent with previous measurements. This corresponds to a branching ratio for (∑ ⁺ →pγ)/(∑ ⁺ → all) of (1.45±0.20 _?0.22 ^+0.11 )×10^?3, where the quoted errors are statistical and systematic, respectively. A total of 408 signal events were observed, doubling the previous world total.     

Production of 6He and 9Be by radiative capture and four-body recombination

In this work we estimate the production rates for the three-body radiative capture processes α + n + n → ⁶He + γ and α + α + n → ⁹Be + γ, as well as the four-body recombination reactions α + α + n + n → ⁶He + α, ^α + n + n + n → ⁶He + n, α + α + n + n → ⁹Be + n and α + α + α + n → ^BeBe + α. These processes compete as a source of ⁶He and ⁹Be. The hyperspherical adiabatic expansion method is used. With this method no assumption is made about the capture mechanism. Both sequential and direct capture are included. The production rates for the radiative and the four-body recombination processes are found to be comparable for a mass density of about 10⁷g/cm³ ( ～ 10³⁰ neutrons/cm³) and temperatures of a few GK.     

Role of thermal and photobeta decays in processes of nucleosynthesis of problematic p nuclei of 113In, 115Sn, 92,94Mo, and 96,98Ru in massive stars

The temperature dependence of the rates of ¹¹³Cd →¹¹³In, ¹¹⁵In →¹¹⁵Sn, ⁹²Zr→⁹²Nb →⁹²Mo, ⁹⁴Zr→⁹⁴Nb →⁹⁴Mo, ⁹⁶Mo →⁹⁶Tc→⁹⁶Ru, and ⁹⁸Mo→⁹⁸Tc→⁹⁸Ru thermal beta transitions was studied at temperatures of massive-star matter in the range of 1 × 10⁸–6 × 10⁹ K. These decays are the possible channel of synthesis of the p nuclei of ¹¹³In, ¹¹⁵Sn, ⁹²,⁹⁴Mo, and ⁹⁶,⁹⁸Ru. The abundances of these nuclei present a challenge for models that study the explosivemechanism of synthesis. The contribution of photobeta decay to the synthesis of the aforementioned p nuclei was estimated. It was shown that the channel of thermal beta decay for ¹¹³In, ¹¹⁵Sn, ⁹⁴Mo, and ⁹⁸Ru p nuclei and the channel of photobeta decay for the ⁹⁶Mo p nucleus could be efficient at the high-temperature quasiequilibrium stage of massive-star evolution.     

The evaluation of the branching ratios of the decays φ(1020)→2π<Superscript>+</Superscript>2π<Superscript>−</Superscript>π<Superscript>0</Superscript>, π<Superscript>+</Superscript>π<Superscript>−</Superscript>3π<Superscript>0</Superscript>

Combining the Okubo-Zweig-Iizuka rule in the decay φ→ρπ→π⁺π^?π⁰ with the ρ→4π decay amplitudes, we calculate the φ→2π⁺2π^?π⁰ and φ→π⁺π^?3π⁰ ones. The partial widths of the above φ decays are evaluated, and the excitation curves in e⁺e^? annihilation are obtained, assuming reasonable particular relations among the parameters characterizing the anomalous terms of the HLS Lagrangian. The evaluated branching ratios B_φ→π⁺_π^?_3π⁰ ≈ 2 × 10^?7 and B_φ→2π⁺_2π^?_π⁰ ≈ 7 × 10^?7 are such that, with the luminosity L=500 pb^?1 attained at DAΦNE φ factory, one may already possess about 1685 events of the decays φ→5π.     

Dynamic deformation of light nuclei in excited states

An important property—the dynamic deformation of B* light aligned nuclei—is investigated for the nuclear reactions A(x, y)B* → γ + B ₀ by measuring the y-γ correlations. Dynamic deformation is determined from the orientation tensors of multipolar moments. Normalization constants of the contributions from even-rank orientation tensors are determined from the condition of coincidence between dynamic and static deformations of the B* nucleus for θ _y = 0°. Experimental dynamic deformations of ¹²C(2⁺) nuclei caused by the inelastic scattering of α particles and deuterons are determined, along with the ¹⁰Be(2⁺) nuclei formed in reaction ⁹Be(d, p)¹⁰Be(2⁺). It is shown that the dynamic deformation of the aligned nuclei depends on how they are formed and their structure, and evolves substantially when the angle θ _y is varied.     

IsoscalarE2 transition strengths in 10≦A≦48 nuclei

Electric quadrupole transition strengths for the 2 ₁ ⁺ ,T=1→0 ₁ ⁺ ,T=1γ-decay branches are summarized for 10≦A≦42 nuclei. In¹⁰B the corresponding branch has been remeasured by use of the⁹Be(p, γ)¹⁰B resonance reaction atE _p =320 keV; an upper limit of 0.6% is found. The variation of theE2 strengths within each individualT=1 isobaric multiplet reveals the particleor hole-character of the levels involved. The isoscalar 2 ₁ ⁺ →0 ₁ ⁺ transition strengths in 10≦A≦48 nuclei vary between 2 and 20 Weißkopf units showing drastic shell effects. Results for the ratio of neutron and proton matrix elements deduced from analogγ-decay studies and from inelastic pion scattering are compared.