One- and two-neutron transfer reactions on 12C with the weakly bound 6He projectile

Using the framework of the coupled reaction channels (CRC) the one- and two-neutron transfer process initiated by the weakly bound nucleus ⁶He on ¹²C at an energy of E _L = 5.9 MeV is studied. The absolute cross-sections for a few states in ¹⁴C are well reproduced within a factor 2 in second order, using microscopic wave functions of ⁶He and ¹²C. Only a small dependence of the cross-section on details of the ⁶He wave function is observed. Good fits to the data are obtained in a calculation with full coupling (25 iterations) with renormalised optical potential parameters and spectroscopic amplitudes of ⁶He. Received: 13 June 2000 / Accepted: 24 July 2000     

Evidence for a dissipative friction mechanism based on 8Be fragments from the interaction of 12C with 59Co

It is suggested that the spectra of the ⁸Be ground-state (gs) nuclei produced in the interaction of ¹²C with ⁵⁹Co at incident energies varying from 8.3 to 33.3 MeV/amu can be explained by introducing a dissipative friction interaction mechanism preceding projectile break-up. Received: 27 March 2000 / Accepted: 11 April 2000     

Isospin dependence of the isotopic distributions from 36Ar and 40Ar fragmentation at about 60 MeV/nucleon

Fragments produced in the reactions of 69 MeV/nucleon ³⁶Ar and 55 MeV/nucleon ⁴⁰Ar on a Be target have been measured experimentally. The isotopic distributions from fragmentation reaction for both projectiles are compared with modified statistical abrasion-ablation model calculations. A strong isospin effect exhibits in the fragment distributions produced in ³⁶Ar and ⁴⁰Ar fragmentation. Experimental evidence for the disappearance of the isospin effect in the isotopic distributions produced by projectile fragmentation is observed with the increase of the violence of nuclear reaction. Received: 15 November 2000 / Accepted: 11 April 2001     

Particle octupole-vibration coupling near 208Pb

High-spin states in ²⁰²Pb and ²⁰³Pb have been investigated by in-beam γ-ray spectroscopy following the reaction ¹⁹⁸Pt(⁹Be,xn). A search for magnetic rotational bands in these isotopes confirmed one of the two bands previously assigned to ²⁰²Pb and revealed a new band in this isotope. No evidence for magnetic rotation has been found in ²⁰³Pb. Received: 24 July 2000 / Accepted: 28 September 2000     

Multiple particle break-up study of low excited states in <Superscript>9</Superscript>Be: The ghost peak in the <Superscript>8</Superscript>Be excitation energy spectrum visited

The aim of this work is to find out the origin of the anomalous resonance in ⁸Be seen in the reactions through excited states in ⁹Be. We have populated the ⁹Be excited states by β-decay of ⁹Li. Energy and direction of the two α particles has been detected and the neutron spectra reconstructed. In our work we identified the “anomalous resonance" in ⁸Be observed in several reaction studies as coming from the decay of the 2.43 and 2.78 MeV states in ⁹Be. This anomalous resonance appears when the two detected α particles are assumed to form a resonance in ⁸Be. We argued that the main decaying channels for these two levels in ⁹Be do not involve ⁸Be.     

Interaction at the barrier in the systems 9, 10, 11Be + 209Bi: Well-established facts and open questions

The experimental data relative to the interaction for the systems ^{9, 10, 11}Be + ²⁰⁹Bi at the Coulomb barrier are critically discussed and compared also with present theories. The break-up (BU) of the two loosely bound projectiles, ^{9, 11}Be, seems to influence the fusion process by “hindering” the fusion cross-sections; but, contrary to expectations, the ¹¹Be halo structure has no influence, since no “enhancement” is evident from the existing data. Attempt to describe simultaneously all the ⁹Be + ²⁰⁹Bi system data: fusion, elastic scattering and BU, within a coupled-channel (CC) approach is only partly successful. It is important, from a theoretical viewpoint, to include in the CC formalism as well as possible the BU process both to continuum states as well as to unbound resonances. More accurate and well-focused experiments are also necessary to pin down this problem. Received: 1 May 2001 / Accepted: 4 December 2001     

Probing the structure of exotic nuclei by transfer reactions

Low energy single nucleon transfer reactions are proposed as a tool to investigate the structure of nuclei far off stability. Experimental concepts and conditions are discussed, in particular high resolution γ-ray spectroscopy after single nucleon pickup reactions. Nuclear structure is described by Skyrme Hartree-Fock calculations including pairing. As representative examples, binding energies, radii and wave functions for Mg and Sn isotopes are calculated. In the neutron deficient Mg isotopes a proton skin is found. At the neutron driplines the Mg and Sn isotopes develop extended neutron skins. The nuclear structure results are used in DWBA and EFR-DWBA transfer calculations. Single nucleon transfer reactions of ^32,36Mg and exotic Sn beams on targets ranging from ²H to ²⁴Mg in inverse kinematics are explored. The one-nucleon transfer cross sections decrease strongly for high-Z targets. An impact parameter analysis shows that the transfer process is selective on the tails of the wave functions. The largest cross sections are obtained for ²H and ⁹Be targets at incident energies of E _lab = 2-5 MeV/u. The energy-momentum dependence is closely related to the special properties of wave functions of weakly bound states. Two-neutron (p,t) stripping reactions are studied for a ⁶He projectile. A strong competition of sequential and direct processes is found at low energies. Received: 1 October 1997 / Revised version: 25 November 1997     

Asymptotic normalization coefficients and astrophysical direct capture rates

Peripheral transfer reactions can be used to determine asymptotic normalization coefficients (ANCs). These coefficients, which specify the normalization of the tail of the nuclear overlap function, determine S-factors for direct capture reactions at astrophysical energies. A variety of proton transfer reactions involving both stable and radioactive beams have been used to measure ANCs. Tests have demonstrated that ANCs determined from proton transfer reactions can be used to calculate astrophysical direct capture rates to within 9%. The ¹⁰B(⁷Be, ⁸B)⁹Be and ¹⁴N(⁷Be, ⁸B)¹³C reactions have been used to measure the ANC appropriate for determining the ⁷Be(p,γ)⁸B rate, and the ¹⁴N(¹¹C, ¹²N)¹³C reaction has been used to measure the ANC required to calculate the ¹¹C(p,γ)¹²N rate. Received: 1 May 2001 / Accepted: 4 December 2001     

Structure of neutron-rich Λ hypernuclei

Properties of light neutron-rich Λ hypernuclei (¹⁶ _ΛC, ¹² _ΛBe, and ¹¹ _ΛLi) are calculated within the Skyrme-Hartree-Fock approach. Interplay between hypernuclear interaction features and properties of these hypernuclei is studied. Response of weakly bound neutron states to hyperon addition depends generally on core distortion by hyperon, and it is essentially different for the different states. This response is especially sensitive to details of the ΛN interaction for 1p _1/2 states. Implications of the nuclear spin-orbit potential and nuclear incompressibility in the neutron-rich system properties are inferred. Dependence of the Λ binding energies in hypernuclei on Z at fixed A is discussed. Received: 16 December 1998     

Microscopic three-cluster study of the low-energy 9 Be photodisintegration

The ⁹Be and ⁹B nuclei are investigated in a microscopic three-cluster model involving α + α + n (or α + α + p) configurations. The ⁸Be (0 ⁺ , 2 ⁺ ) + n and ⁵He (3/2 ^- , 1/2 ^- ) + α (or mirror) channels are included by taking account of the unstable nature of ⁸Be and ⁵He. Spectroscopic properties of ⁹Be and ⁹B are analyzed. We show that the ⁵He + α configurations cannot be neglected to derive accurate results. The ⁹Be(γ,αα)n photodisintegration cross-section is shown to be mainly determined by ⁸Be + n channels at low energies, but ⁵He + α channels become important beyond E _γ≈ 4 MeV. Received: 7 September 2001 / Accepted: 19 November 2001     

Scattering of 11Be halo nucleus from 209Bi at the Coulomb barrier

The scattering of the radioactive, weakly bound, halo nucleus ¹¹Be from ²⁰⁹Bi has been studied at 40MeV beam energy. The measurement performed with a low-intensity and a large-emittance secondary beam could be made using an extremely compact, large solid angle (∼ 2π sr) detecting set-up, based on 8 highly segmented Si telescopes. The ^{11, 9}Be scattering angular distributions, as well as their relative reaction cross-sections, resulted to be rather similar. This may suggest that at Coulomb barrier energies the halo structure and the very small binding energy of the ¹¹Be projectile have no big influence on the reaction dynamics.     

Cluster structures in light nuclei

Clustering in light stable and unstable nuclei is discussed. After a brief review of the clustering in stable nuclei, we make a new prediction of the existence of the alpha cluster condensed states in ¹²C and ¹⁶O. Discussions of clustering in light unstable nuclei are made in the cases of Be and B isotopes up to the neutron dripline. Received: 1 May 2001 / Accepted: 4 December 2001     

Discrete structures in fusion-barrier distributions for vibrational nuclei

We obtain a closed-form expression for the distribution of fusion barriers for vibrational nuclei using a generalization of Dasso, Landowne, and Winther's model, which represents the nuclear surface vibrations as a number of harmonic oscillators, and allows the excitation of an arbitrary number of phonons in the target and/or projectile. We find that this expression is in reasonable agreement with the average trends of the empirical distributions for the fusion of ¹⁶O with ⁹²Zr, ¹⁴⁴Sm and ²⁰⁸Pb, but fails to reproduce the double peaking of the distribution for the ¹⁴⁴Sm target. Only when we restrict the number of excited phonons to a limited number, we are able to reproduce such discrete structures. We show that limiting the number of coupled channels, particularly in the case of strong coupling, increases the spacings between the channel eigenvalues that determine the positions of the peaks of the barrier distribution and modifies their heights. Received: 6 March 2000 / Accepted: 31 January 2001     

Decoupling and coherence in E1 and E2 moments in drip line nuclei

I discuss first the effect of decoupling of extended wave functions and the coherence in the low-energy E1 strength in drip line nuclei ¹²Be and ¹³O, which are studied by large-scale shell model calculations including 3 ?ω configuration space. The calculated results are compared to recent experimental data of Coulomb excitations. The quenching of the core polarization charges in drip line nuclei is also discussed in relation to recent observations of quadrupole moments in B-isotopes. Received: 1 May 2001 / Accepted: 4 December 2001     

The halo of the exotic nucleus 11Li: a single Cooper pair

If neutrons are progressively added to a normal nucleus, the Pauli principle forces them into states of higher momentum. When the core becomes neutron saturated, the nucleus expels most of the wave function of the last neutrons outside to form a halo, which, because of its large size, can have a lower momentum. It is an open question how nature stabilizes such a fragile system and provides the glue needed to bind the halo neutrons to the core. Here, we show that this problem is similar to that of the instability of the normal state of an electron system at zero temperature solved by Cooper, a solution which is at the basis of BCS theory of superconductivity. By mimicking this approach using, aside from the bare nucleon-nucleon interaction, the long wavelength vibrations of the nucleus ¹¹Li, the paradigm of halo nuclei, as tailored glues of the least bound neutrons, we are able to obtain a unified and quantitative picture of the observed properties of ¹¹Li. Received: 9 May 2001 / Accepted: 17 November 2001     

Potential and limitations of nucleon transfer experiments with radioactive beams at REX-ISOLDE

As a tool for studying the structure of nuclei far off stability the technique of γ-ray spectroscopy after low-energy single-nucleon transfer reactions with radioactive nuclear beams in inverse kinematics was investigated. Modules of the MINIBALL germanium array and a thin position-sensitive parallel plate avalanche counter (PPAC) to be employed in future experiments at REX-ISOLDE were used in a test experiment performed with a stable ³⁶S beam on deuteron and ⁹Be targets. It is demonstrated that the Doppler broadening of γ lines detected by the MINIBALL modules is considerably reduced by exploiting their segmentation, and that for beam intensities up to 10⁶ particles/s the PPAC positioned around zero degrees with respect to the beam axis allows not only to significantly reduce the γ background by requiring coincidences with the transfer products but also to control the beam and its intensity by single particle counting. The predicted large neutron pickup cross-sections of neutron-rich light nuclei on ²H and ⁹Be targets at REX-ISOLDE energies of 2.2 MeV ^. A are confirmed. Received: 9 October 2000 / Accepted: 28 January 2001     

Inelastic scattering on 12Be and disappearance of the N = 8 magic number

Experimental studies on in-beam γ-ray spectroscopy using a ¹²Be radioactive beam are presented. Inelastic scattering of the neutron-rich ¹²Be nucleus on ²⁰⁸Pb, ¹²C, and (CH₂)_n targets has been studied by measuring de-excitation γ-rays in coincidence with scattered particles. The level schemes and transition probabilities are determined for low-lying excited states in ¹²Be. The present paper presents a brief review of the spectroscopic results, which may be associated with the N = 8 shell quenching near the drip line. Received: 1 May 2001 / Accepted: 4 December 2001     

The first excited states of 9Be and 9B

It is found here that the 1/2⁺ first excited state of ⁹Be is a virtual state with the energy of −23.5 KeV. The line shape for the excitation of the state is approximated with a simple analytic form based on the effective range expansion. The partner in ⁹B of this state is found to be a resonance with a maximum in the peak at about 1.1 MeV, FWHM of 1.5 MeV, and complex energy of 0.6 −i0.75 MeV. The line shape for its excitation is calculated in terms of the p−⁸Be phase shift. The phase shifts are obtained from N−⁸Be effective potentials deduced from the data on the photodisintegration of ⁹Be. A possibility for direct extraction of the energy of the resonant state from experimental data is also discussed, and an expression for a residue at a virtual state pole in terms of a quadrature taken over the virtual state eigenfunction is given. Received: 23 March 1998 / Revised version: 3 September 1998     

7Li quasi-free scattering off the α-cluster in 9Be nucleus

Spectra of coincident charged particles from the reactions induced by a 52 MeV ⁷Li beam incident on a beryllium target were measured. Strong contributions of the ⁷Li quasi-free scattering off the α-cluster in ⁹Be nucleus were observed. This observation supports the conclusions from the study of complete fusion of weakly bound light nuclei at low energies that the “fragility” of the nuclei makes their fusion less probable. Received: 1 June 1998