Study of the structure of unstable nuclei through the reaction experiments

Along with the development of the radioactive nuclear beam facility, the study of the structure of unstable nuclei has progressed rapidly over the last few decades. Due to the weakly binding property, the structure information of the unstable nuclei comes primarily from the scattering or reaction experiments. Therefore it would be very important to understand clearly the reaction mechanism involved in the experiment. We outlined here the major reaction mechanisms which are adequate to the study of unstable ...     

利用中高能破碎和敲出反应研究非稳定核结构

中高能区的破碎和敲出反应,由于机制相对简单、对核的表面敏感、理论处理比较成熟等原因,在非稳定核的晕结构、壳移动等奇特性质研究中发挥了独到作用。针对次级束流强度较弱、能散较大等特点,实验上发展和应用了逆运动学有效立体角完全测量、轻重靶结合、高精度消色差磁谱仪、前向中子谱仪、在束γ测量等技术手段,大大提升了实验的探测能力和选择性。从物理问题探索和实验路线演变的角度,回顾了非稳定核破碎和敲出反应的发展过程与启示,并探讨未来的走向。     

Breakup reactions of two-neutron halo nuclei

Investigation of reactions initiated in collisions of beams of unstable nuclei with nuclear targets has resulted in the discovery of a new type of nuclear structure, the halo, in some light nuclei at the boundary of nucleon stability. A survey of different reactions with two-neutron halo nuclei and their use for gaining information on the structure of exotic nuclei is presented. Kinematically complete breakup reactions, which provide the possibility of obtaining quite reliable information on the structure of the ground state and the continuum of nuclei, are considered in detail. The microscopic four-body model of breakup reactions for two-neutron halo nuclei with account of characteristic specific features of their structure is formulated. The model is based on the distorted wave approximation and is applicable for analysis of low excitations of the continuum near the breakup threshold, the region most sensitive to manifestation of specific features of the halo structure. The described approach enables the calculation of all observables of kinematically complete experiments in nucleus-nucleus collisions at intermediate energies for which one-step processes dominate, and creates the basis for the spectroscopy of continua via successive analysis of various correlation cross sections available in kinematically complete experiments.     

Excitation of two-neutron-halo nuclei in a continuum

Reactions induced by collisions of beams of unstable nuclei with nuclear targets are studied. Kinematically full breakup reactions are considered. A microscopic four-body model of the breakup of two-neutron-halo nuclei is formulated with allowance for special features of their structure. The model relies on the distorted-wave method and creates a basis for the spectroscopy of the continuous spectrum via a consistent analysis of various correlation cross sections.     

Influence of breakup on elastic and α-production channels in the ~6Li+~(116)Sn reaction

The effects of breakup reactions on elastic and α-production channels for the ~6Li+~(116)Sn system have been investigated at energies below and near the Coulomb barrier. The angular distributions of α-particle production differential cross sections have been obtained at several projectile energies between 22 and 40 MeV. The measured breakup α-particle differential cross sections and elastic scattering angular distributions have been compared with the predictions of continuum-discretized coupled channels(CDCC) calculations. The influence of breakup coupling has also been investigated by extracting dynamic polarization potentials(DPP) from the CDCC calculations. From the predictions of CDCC calculations the relative importance of the nuclear, Coulomb, and total breakup contributions have also been investigated. The nuclear breakup couplings are observed to play an important role in comparison to the Coulomb breakup for the direct breakup mechanisms associated in the reaction of ~6Li projectile with ~(116)Sn target nuclei. The influence of strong nuclear breakup coupling exhibits suppression in the Coulomb-nuclear interference peak. The direct breakup cross sections from the CDCC calculations under-predict the measured α-particle differential cross sections at all energies. This suggests that the measured α particles may also have contributions from other possible breakup reaction channels.     

Breakup of light nuclei within the modified distorted wave Born approximation

Reactions of the elastic breakup of loosely bound light nuclei are investigated in the scope of the distorted wave Born approximation, with deuterium breakup reactions used as an example. Some drawbacks of this approximation in calculating the breakup amplitude in the prior form are shown and their causes analyzed. We propose eliminating the drawbacks by employing a modified nucleus-nucleus potential in calculating the distorted wave functions of scattering in the exit reaction channel. The calculations are compared to the experimental data.     

Studying of the neutron halo structure in quasi-free proton scattering from 6He Halo nucleus

An experimental method based on an analysis of the neutron-neutron correlations in reactions induced by halo nuclei in nuclear photoemulsion is proposed for studying the two-neutron halo structure. Photoemulsion stacks were exposed to a beam of radioactive ⁶He nuclei. Preliminary data on interaction of the ⁶He halo nucleus to hydrogen are compared with the results of the kinematic calculation for the reaction of quasi-free proton scattering from clusters making up the ⁶He halo nucleus. A fraction of quasi-free scattering events with “survival” of the dineutron is evaluated for scattering of protons by the dineutron configuration of the ⁶He nucleus.     

Low-energy nuclear reactions with double-solenoid-based radioactive nuclear beam

The University of Notre Dame, USA (Becchetti et al, Nucl. Instrum. Methods Res. A505, 377 (2003) and later the University of São Paulo, Brazil (Lichtenthaler et al, Eur. Phys. J. A25, S-01, 733 (2005)) adopted a system based on superconducting solenoids to produce low-energy radioactive nuclear beams. In these systems the solenoids act as thick lenses to collect, select, and focus the secondary beam into a scattering chamber. Many experiments with radioactive light particle beams (RNB) such as ⁶He, ⁷Be, ⁸Li, ⁸B have been performed at these two facilities. These low-energy RNB have been used to investigate low-energy reactions such as elastic scattering, transfer and breakup, providing useful information on the structure of light nuclei near the drip line and on astrophysics. Total reaction cross-sections, derived from elastic scattering analysis, have also been investigated for light system as a function of energy and the role of breakup of weakly bound or exotic nuclei is discussed.     

Physics with loosely bound nuclei

The essential aspect of contemporary physics is to understand properties of nucleonic matter that constitutes the world around us. Over the years research in nuclear physics has provided strong guidance in understanding the basic principles of nuclear interactions. But, the scenario of nuclear physics changed drastically as the new generation of accelerators started providing more and more rare isotopes, which are away from the line of stability. These weakly bound nuclei are found to exhibit new forms of nuclear matter and unprecedented exotic behaviour. The low breakup thresholds of these rare nuclei are posing new challenges to both theory and experiments. Fortunately, nature has provided a few loosely bound stable nuclei that have been studied thoroughly for decades Attempts are being made to find a consistent picture for the unstable nuclei starting from their stable counterparts. Some significant differences in the structure and reaction mechanisms are found.     

Neutron Halo Structure at the Limit of Stability Probed by Breakup Reactions

Atomic nuclei along the neutron drip line are investigated experimentally by breakup reactions of the rare isotope beams. Such exotic nuclei often show the neutron halo structure, which is the main focus of this paper. Characteristic features of the Coulomb and nuclear breakup at intermediate to high incident energies are described. Then, recent experimental results on halo nuclei, mainly on ³¹Ne, obtained at the new-generation RI-beam facility, RIBF (RI Beam factory) at RIKEN, are presented. Perspectives for the breakup experiments using the new facility SAMURAI at RIBF ara also discussed.     

Probing the halo and cluster structure of exotic nuclei

The Halo and cluster structure at the ground state of unstable nuclei are among the most exciting phenomena of current nuclear physics. Probing these structures requires a careful selection of reaction tools. In the past twenty years, knockout reactions have been used intensively to investigate spectroscopically the structure of unstable nuclei. In this report we have illustrated the latest development of the knockout reaction tool and have emphasized the recoiled proton tagging method. A quantitative criteria is developed to evaluate the quasi-free feature of the knockout process. The newly discovered "towing mode" reaction tool is also outlined and its applicability at transit energies is discussed.     

Study of the structure of borromean nucleus 17Ne

The 17Ne nucleus is a possible candidate with a two-proton borromean halo structure. Since the theoretical model is difficult to handle the three-body system, it is difficult to determine the two-proton halo structure in 17Ne. In the present research, we try to study the breakup reaction of 17Ne. For the Borromean nuclei, one-proton knockout results in an unstable nucleus which is decaying further by proton emission. This process will result in an angular correlation between the direction of the aligned recoiling unstable nucleus and its decay products. The angular correlations can give us information about the configuration of the valence proton in the 17Ne. Furthermore, theoretical calculations indicate that the momentum distributions of 16F c.m are sensitive to the structure of the halo in 17Ne. Thus the measurement of momentum distributions of 16F c.m may also give us conclusive information on the structure of 17Ne. The present experiment has been done at IMP in Lanzhou using the radioactive beam 17Ne at 30.8 MeV/u on a 43mg/cm2 12C target. The data analysis is under procedure and the primary results are provided.     

Reactions with fast radioactive beams of neutron-rich nuclei

The neutron dripline has presently been reached only for the lightest nuclei up to the element oxygen. In this region of light neutron-rich nuclei, scattering experiments are feasible even for dripline nuclei by utilizing high-energy secondary beams produced by fragmentation. In the present article, reactions of high-energy radioactive beams will be exemplified using recent experimental results mainly derived from measurements of breakup reactions performed at the LAND and FRS facilities at GSI and at the S800 spectrometer at the NSCL. Nuclear and electromagnetically induced reactions allow probing different aspects of nuclear structure at the limits of stability related to the neutron-proton asymmetry and the weak binding close to the dripline. Properties of the valence-neutron wave functions are studied in the one-neutron knockout reaction, revealing the changes of shell structure when going from the beta-stability line to more asymmetric loosely bound neutron-rich systems. The vanishing of the N = 8 shell gap for neutron-rich systems like ¹¹Li and ¹²Be, or the new closed N = 14, 16 shells for the oxygen isotopes are examples. The continuum of weakly bound nuclei and halo states can be studied by inelastic scattering. The dipole response, for instance, is found to change dramatically when going away from the valley of stability. A redistribution of the dipole strength towards lower excitation energies is observed for neutron-rich nuclei, which partly might be due to a new collective excitation mode related to the neutron-proton asymmetry. Halo nuclei, in particular, show strong dipole transitions to the continuum at the threshold, being directly related to the ground-state properties of the projectile. Finally, an outlook on future experimental prospects is given.     

不稳定原子核β衰变强度的实验测量方法

原子核的β衰变是指原子核放射出β粒子或俘获电子而进行的转变。对β衰变强度S_β(E)的精确测量，对探索不稳定原子核的结构、揭秘恒星核合成过程、验证β衰变理论等方面均存在着重要意义。实验上，为了测量β衰变强度，一种方法是利用β-γ符合测量或者全吸收谱仪对β衰变产物进行直接测量，这种方法可以给出子核在Q_β窗口内的衰变信息。另一种方法是利用在中等能区(100~400 MeV/u)进行的电荷交换反应，如(p,n)或(3He,t)，通过微分截面的高精度测量获得子核的β衰变强度，这种方法可以用于研究子核在Q_β窗外的衰变强度，但是对束流强度有较高的要求，尚无法系统研究产额较低的不稳定原子核。有鉴于此，本文提出对不稳定核素的电荷交换反应总截面进行系统测量，结合核反应理论，这种方法有望约束不稳定核素在质子发射阈下的Gamow-Teller跃迁的总强度。最后简要介绍了已开展和计划开展的工作。     

Breakup reactions of halo nuclei

Different reaction mechanisms of breakup reactions are discussed and the microscopic reaction model for two-neutron halo dissociation is presented. Some examples of halo breakup in reactions with electrons, nucleons, and nuclei are given.     

Neutron and Alpha Structure in Neutron Deficient Nuclei in Astrophysics

The paper includes discussions on the important role of neutron and alpha configurations in proton-rich nuclei in nuclear astrophysics in terms of nucleosynthesis under extremely high-temperature hydrogenburning conditions. The p-process, which is supposed to take place at the very early epoch of type II supernovae, has considerable neutrons and alphas together with protons. The alpha-induced reactions on proton-rich unstable nuclei in the light mass regions is expected to play a crucial role, but very few of them were investigated well yet because of the experimental difficulties. Specifically, I report our recent experimental effort for the breakout process from the pp-chain region, 7Be(α ,γ )11C(α ,p)14N under the p-process. The neutron-induced reactions on proton-rich nuclei, which is even more a challenging subject, were investigated previously for very few nuclei. One possible experimental method is the Trojan Horse Method (THM). We successfully have applied THM to the 18F(n, )14N reaction study with an unstable beam of 18F.     

Fusion suppression and sub-barrier breakup of weakly bound nuclei

The mechanism for the large suppression of complete fusion in the 9Be+208Pb reaction has been investigated through measurement of sub-barrier breakup of 9Be. Excluding breakup through the 8Be ground state, whose lifetime is too long, a prompt breakup component remains, having sufficient probability to explain the observed suppression of complete fusion. This appears to be associated with interactions at the nuclear surface. The fusion suppression is predicted to be almost proportional to the charge of the target nucleus, making it most significant in reactions with heavy nuclei.     

轻奇特核结构中的核心激发--以11Be为例

近年来,越来越多的实验表明,很多轻奇特核结构中都有核心激发成分。本研究以丰中子晕核11Be为例,介绍核心激发成分的实验和理论研究进展,重点阐述核心激发成分对直接核反应微分截面的影响。实验上,1n移除反应及11Be（p,d）和10Be（d,p）转移反应是测量11Be核心激发成分比例的典型实验类型。理论上,发展了能够包括11Be核心激发成分的Faddeev AGS方法,XDWBA方法以及XCDCC方法。加入核心激发成分后,这些模型的计算结果可以更加合理地描述11Be在各种靶上的弹性散射和碎裂微分截面。通过对比是否包含核心激发成分的计算结果,发现其影响主要体现在弹散微分截面的大质心系角度,以及（p,d）转移反应角分布的小质心系角度。另外,对E_x=0:5s3 MeV的激发能区的碎裂反应,核心激发的影响不可忽略;对E_x=3s5:5 MeV的碎裂反应,核心激发的贡献非常重要。It was found that many light exotic nuclei have the core-excitation components. In this paper, taking one-neutron halo nucleus 11Be for example, the experimental and theoretical research progress, as well as the influences on the direct nuclear reaction differential cross sections of this exotic component were reviewed. The 1n removal, 11Be(p, d) and 10Be(d, p) transfer reactions are typical experimental methods to investigate this component. The Faddeev AGS, the XDWBA, and the XCDCC methods are developed to include this constituent in various theoretical models. With the core-excitation component, the calculated results can more reasonably describe the elastic scattering and breakup differential cross sections of 11Be impinging on various targets. Comparing the full XCDCC calculation with that omitting core-excitation effect, we found that this component mainly affects the elastic scattering differential cross sections at large center-of-mass angles, and the (p, d) transfer reaction angular distributions at small center-of-mass angles. In addition, its effect is non-negligible for the breakup reaction within the excitation energy interval of E_x = 0:5~3 MeV, and is remarkable for E_x =3 5:5 MeV.     

Nuclear structure studies on halo nuclei by direct reactions with radioactive beams

The investigation of direct reactions with exotic beams in inverse kinematics gives access to a wide field of nuclear structure studies in the region far off stability. The basic concept and the methods involved are briefly discussed. The present contribution will focus on the investigation of light neutron-rich halo nuclei. Such nuclei reveal a new type of nuclear structure, namely an extended neutron distribution surrounding a nuclear core. An overview on this phenomenon, and on the various methods which gave first evidence and qualitative confirmation of our present picture of halo nuclei, is given. To obtain more quantitative information on the radial shape of halo nuclei, elastic proton scattering on neutron-rich light nuclei at intermediate energies was recently investigated for the first time. This method is demonstrated to be an effective means for studying the nuclear matter distributions of such nuclei. The results on the nuclear matter radii of ⁶He and ⁸He, the deduced nuclear matter density distributions, and the significance of the data on the halo structure is discussed. The present data allow also a sensitive test of theoretical model calculations on the structure of neutron-rich helium isotopes. A few examples are presented. The investigation of few-nucleon transfer reactions in inverse kinematics may provide new and complementary information on nuclear structure, as well as astrophysical questions. The physics motivation and the experimental concept for such experiments, to be performed due to momentum matching reasons at low incident energies around 5–20 MeV/u at the new generation low energy radioactive beam facilities SPIRAL, PIAFE, etc., is briefly discussed.     

Diffractive dissociation of deuterons and exotic nuclei <Superscript>6</Superscript>He and <Superscript>19</Superscript>C

A theory is developed for describing the diffractive dissociation of loosely bound two-cluster nuclei in the nuclear and Coulomb fields of nuclei having a diffuse boundary. The energy spectra of charged products of the breakup of ²H, ⁶He, and ¹⁹C nuclei are calculated on the basis of the proposed approach, and the results are found to be rather sensitive to nuclear structure. For some angles of neutron and proton emission from the reaction ¹²C(d, np)¹²C, the calculated cross sections are in satisfactory agreement with the results of kinematically complete experiments performed recently to study the breakup of intermediate-energy deuterons.