(n, α) Reactions on light nuclei atE n =13.9 MeV

The reactions¹⁴N (n, α)¹¹B and¹⁰B(n, α)⁷Li were studied with 13.9 MeV neutrons using a counter telescope. Differential cross sections were measured for the transitions to the ground states and to some excited states. The results provide evidence for a strong contribution from a direct reaction mechanism. Systematics of integrated cross sections for the ground state transitions of all known (n, α) reactions on light nuclei with 14 MeV neutrons is also given.     

Measurements of a partial cross section for the reaction 58Ni(n, γ0)59Ni

The partial cross section for radiative neutron capture accompanied by gamma transitions to the ground state of the ⁵⁹Ni nucleus was measured as a function of energy by a new neutron-spectrometry method that employed the shift of a primary gamma transition in response to a change in the energy of the captured neutron. The reaction ⁷Li(p, n)⁷Be was used as source of neutrons for the present measurements. The protons that induced this reaction were accelerated by a Van de Graaff electrostatic generator to energies exceeding the reaction threshold by 60 keV, in which case an appropriate geometry of the experiment permitted irradiation of the sample under study with neutrons whose energy ranged between 10 and 120 keV. The partial widths of some resonances and radiative strength function for hard primary M1 gamma transitions were determined in addition to the above cross sections.     

The (p,t) reactions on nuclei in the rare earth region

The (p, t) reactions on isotopic targets of ^{178, 180}Hf and all the stable isotopes of Yb and on natural targets of Gd, Dy, Er, Hf, Ta, W, Os and Au were studied at a beam energy of 19 MeV with an average resolution of 12 keV. A split-pole magnetic spectrometer was used to measure (p, t) Q-values and absolute differential cross sections. On the basis of angular distribution shapes definite 0⁺ and tentative 2⁺ assignments were made. Rotational bands were identified assuming an I(I+1) spacing. The (p, t) reaction populates excited 0⁺ states strongly in ¹⁷⁴Yb, ¹⁷⁶Hf, ¹⁶⁶Yb and several Gd, Dy and Er isotopes. The ¹⁷⁴Yb and ¹⁷⁶Hf 0⁺ states are discussed in terms of the pairing phase transition and in terms of Nilsson orbitals with unequal (p, t) reaction amplitudes. Members of gamma and octupole vibrational bands were observed in the even-N nuclei. The lowest L = 0 transfers to states in ^{169, 171}Yb were found to have less than 55% of the strength to ground states in adjacent even-N nuclei. A strong L = 0 transfer to a state at 1513 keV in ¹⁷¹Yb indicates the presence of a possible K = 0 core vibration coupled to the unpaired $\text{5}\text{2}$[512] neutron. The natural targets have furnished information on trends in cross sections for members of ground bands, gamma bandheads, 3^? octupole states, and strongly excited 0⁺ states.     

Spectroscopy of neutron-deficient nuclei around 36Ca

An experiment was performed to extend the knowledge of excited states in neutron-deficient Ca isotopes. In particular, the first excited state in ³⁶Ca was searched for to obtain information on the isospin dependence of the nucleon-nucleon interaction near the proton drip line from a comparison with its stable mirror nucleus, ³⁶S. The ³⁶Ca ions were produced using a two-step fragmentation technique with a ³⁷Ca secondary beam, and in-beam γ-rays were measured. First results are the energy of the first 2⁺ state in ³⁶Ca, E(2⁺)=3036(11) keV, and the cross section for the reaction ³⁷Ca → ³⁶Ca at 61.A MeV. In addition, the de-excitaion of the first 2⁺ state in ²⁸S has been observed.     

Investigation of the mechanism of inelastic deuteron scattering on <Superscript>12</Superscript>C at <Emphasis Type="Italic">E</Emphasis><Subscript>d</Subscript> = 15.3 MeV by the method of <Emphasis Type="Italic">dγ</Emphasis> angular correlations

The results are presented that were obtained by measuring the differential cross sections for the reaction ¹²C(d,d) ¹²C occurring at E _d = 15.3 MeV and leading to the production of a ¹²C nucleus in the ground and the first excited state. The energy dependences of the differential reaction cross sections were measured for three angles of deuteron emission in the range of projectile-deuteron energies E _d between 12 and 15.3 MeV. The double-differential cross sections for the reaction in question were measured for the 2⁺ state of the ¹²C nucleus at 4.44 MeV, and the angular dependences of the even spin-tensor components of the density matrix were determined, along with the angular dependences of the populations of magnetic sublevels and the components of the tensors of multipole-moment orientation. These experimental results are compared with their theoretical counterparts obtained under the assumption of various reaction mechanisms, including collective interaction, heavy-particle stripping, a two-step mechanism that takes into account the delay in the interaction, and the mechanism of compound-nucleus formation.     

The 18O(18O, 16O)20O reaction at 52 MeV

The structure of the ²⁰O nucleus was studied by the ¹⁸O(¹⁸O, ¹⁶O)²⁰O reaction at E_1ab = 52 MeV. Angular distributions for the transitions to the lowest four states in ²⁰O were obtained and analyzed with finite-range DWBA calculations. Optical potential sets were used which fit the experimental elastic scattering differential cross sections over almost the whole angular range. The two L = 0 transitions to the ground state and the 4.45 MeV state of ²⁰O populated by the ¹⁸O(¹⁸O, ¹⁶O) reaction were analyzed with exact finite-range DWBA calculations using microscopic form factors. These calculations underestimate the absolute cross sections by a factor of 11. The relative strength of the two L = 0 transitions is well reproduced in the ¹⁸O(¹⁸O, ¹⁶O) reaction. However, DWBA calculations for the ¹⁸O(t, p)²⁰O reaction overestimated the relative cross sections for the excited 0⁺ state by a factor of 6. Several model wave functions were tested for the ground-state transition. It was found that the absolute cross sections of the (¹⁸O, ¹⁶O) reaction are very sensitive to the mixing of shell-model configurations. The angular distribution shapes are also slightly dependent on the mixing.     

Formation of 24Mg* in the spallation of 28Si nuclei by 1-GeV protons

The ²⁸Si(p, p′γ₀ X)²⁴Mg reaction has been studied at the ITEP accelerator by the hadron-gamma coincidence method for a proton energy of 1 GeV. Two reaction products are detected: a 1368.6-keV γ-ray photon accompanying the transition of the ²⁴Mg* nucleus from the first excited state to the ground state and a proton p′ whose momentum is measured in a magnetic spectrometer. The measured distribution in the energy lost by the proton in interaction is attributed to five processes: the direct knockout of a nuclear α cluster, the knockout of four nucleons with a total charge number of 2, the formation of the _ΔSi isobaric nucleus, the formation of the Δ isobar in the interaction of the incident proton with a nuclear nucleon, and the production of a π meson, which is at rest in the nuclear reference frame. The last process likely corresponds to the reaction of the formation of a deeply bound pion state in the ²⁸P nucleus. Such states were previously observed only on heavy nuclei. The cross sections for the listed processes have been estimated.     

Charged pion photoproduction from light nuclei

The photoproduction of 0–150-MeV charged pions from light nuclei is studied from a distorted wave impulse approximation (DWIA) approach. The final nuclear states are restricted to a finite set of isospin analogs of excited states of the target nucleus. The final state interactions of the pion with the residual nucleus are incorporated via optical potentials. The elementary photoproduction operator used is that of Blomqvist and Laget which is derived in a general reference frame. To gain insight into the predictive power of this DWIA approach, total and differential cross sections for π^± production from ⁶Li, ⁷Li, ¹⁰B, ¹²C, and ¹⁴N are calculated and compared with available data. It is found that, with a few exceptions, reasonable agreement is obtained between theory and experiment as long as the nuclear wave functions are constrained to fit other electromagnetic and weak processes and the optical potentials are constrained to fit pion-nucleus elastic scattering data. We conclude that, at this stage, using the Blomqvist-Laget operator in a DWIA calculation adequately describes the dynamics of charged pion photoproduction from complex nuclei. We illustrate how this reaction can be used to obtain information on the short range nature of the pion wave function and on nuclear wave functions. Shortcomings of and improvements on this calculation are also suggested.     

Excitation of states of medium-mass nuclei in the region of giant resonances in inelastic deuteron scattering

Results are presented that were obtained by measuring a continuum in the inelastic scattering of 37-MeV deuterons on ¹²C, ⁴⁸Ti, and ^58,64Ni nuclei in the angular range 16° ≤ θ ≤ 61°. Broad excitation maxima are found for deuteron scattering angles in the range θ ≤ 21°. The region of a broad maximum includes giant resonances of target nuclei, whose levels are excited quite readily at E _d = 37 MeV. Summation of the inelastic-scattering cross sections over all final states of the excited| nucleus and the use of completeness of the wave functions for these states make it possible to express the total cross section for inelastic (incoherent) deuteron scattering only in terms of the wave functions for the ground state of the target nucleus. The corresponding quasielastic-scattering amplitude is taken in the diffraction approximation. Nucleon correlations in the target nucleus are disregarded. Upon disregarding a small contribution of multiple quasielastic scattering at small scattering angles, the cross section for incoherent deuteron scattering is represented approximately as the product of known factors—the square of the absolute value of the amplitude for diffractive quasielastic scattering and the effective number of target nucleons scattering deuterons. The results of these calculations agree qualitatively with experimental data.     

Investigation of the mechanism of the reaction 10B(d, pγ)11B at E d = 15.3 MeV by the method of angular pγ correlations

The results are presented that were obtained by measuring the differential cross sections for the reaction ¹⁰B(d, p)¹¹B occurring at E _d = 15.3 MeV and leading to the production of a ¹¹B nucleus in the ground state (3/2^?) and in the lowest two excited states (the 1/2^? state at 2.125 MeV and the 5/2^? state at 4.445 MeV). The energy dependence of the differential cross section for this reaction was measured for several proton emission angles in the energy range E _d = 12–15.3 MeV. The double-differential cross sections for the reaction ¹⁰B(d, pγ)¹¹B were measured for the 5/2^? state of the ¹¹B nucleus at 4.445 MeV, and the angular dependences of the even spin-tensor components of the density matrix were reconstructed on the basis of these data. The angular dependences of the populations of magnetic sublevels are also given. The experimental results in question are compared with their theoretical counterparts obtained under the assumption of various reaction mechanisms (neutron stripping, heavy-particle stripping, and a two-step mechanism that takes into account the delay of interaction). On the basis of this comparison, the deformation parameters of the boron nuclei were found to be β ₂(¹⁰B) = ?0.55 and β ₂(¹¹B) = 0.4.     

Use of (<Superscript>3</Superscript>He, <Emphasis Type="Italic">t</Emphasis>) charge-exchange reactions in determining radii of excited states of nuclei

A method for determining the radii of excited states of nuclei by means of (³He, t) charge-exchange reactions was proposed. Two versions of a comparison of differential cross sections for (³He, t) reactions were considered. The first relies on a comparison with cross sections for inelastic-scattering processes leading to the formation of isobaric analog states, while the second involves (³He, t) reactions leading to the production of the ground state. The two versions in question yield similar results and make it possible to determine the radius of the first excited state of the ¹³N nucleus. This state has the excitation energy of E* = 2.37 MeV, lying above the proton-emission threshold. The resulting radius proved to be enhanced in relation to the ground state and is close to the radius of the 3.09-MeV isobaric analog state of the ¹³С nucleus, which has a neutron halo. This permitted drawing the conclusion that the ¹³N nucleus in the 2.37-MeV state has a proton halo. The possibility of revealing a proton halo in other states of light nuclei is considered.     

Gamma ray and π0 production from hydrogen and complex nuclei by 270–375 MeV gamma rays

Measurements are reported on the differential cross section for secondary gamma ray production on hydrogen and nuclear targets at 90° in the laboratory through the interactions of primary gamma rays in the energy range 270–375 MeV. A difference method using bremsstrahlung beams at different end point energies was employed. The gamma ray detector was a high resolution Nal(Tl) spectrometer and time of flight discrimination was used to reject neutrons. For incident gamma rays in the range 270–375 MeV the first pion nucleon resonance is strongly excited and the observed gamma ray yields are consistent with those expected due to an admixture of coherent and incoherent π⁰ photoproduction in the resonance region. The experiment marks the first successful use of a large Nal(Tl) crystals as a gamma ray spectrometer at a high energy electron linear accelerator, despite the low duty cycle and its accompanying difficulties for such detectors.     

Fast neutron radiative capture in silicon

Using the²⁸Si(n, γ)²⁹Si reaction, transitions to the ground state and first excited state in²⁹Si have been studied in the neutron energy range 3–14 MeV with improved neutron energy resolution (of about 100 keV). The 90° cross sections show considerable structure in the entire neutron energy range. Comparison with theoretical calculations shows that compound-nucleus and direct-semidirect processes account for the non-resonant part (smoothly varying part) of the cross section. A microscopic model is, however, required to describe the resonance structure. Continuum shell-model calculations have proven to be a very promising means towards a better understanding of the capture process in, and below, the giant resonance region in light nuclei. The angular distributions of gamma rays in the neutron energy range 8–14 MeV indicate that the capture reaction is mainly of direct character and that the effect of interference between the electric dipole and isoscalar quadrupole resonance is weak.     

Experimental and theoretical study of the elastic break-up of the alpha particle on58Ni nuclei atE α=172.5 MeV

The triton-proton angular correlation function has been measured for the⁵⁸Ni(α, t p)⁵⁸Ni reaction leading to the ground state of the target nucleus. The obtained experimental data have been interpreted in terms of the direct break-up (fragmentation) of the alpha particle on the target nucleus potential. It is shown that the main features of the measured double differential cross section are well predicted by the DWBA theory of the break-up. The dependence of the elastic and inclusive break-up cross sections upon the fragment-target interaction potentials is discussed.     

Li(p,pd)He reaction at 100 MeV

An angular correlation experiment of the ⁶Li(p, pd)⁴He reaction at 100 MeV has been performed using a symmetric and coplanar geometry and covering an angular range from 45.5 to 57°. In addition to the conventional ΔE-E telescope systems for the detection of both protons and deuterons, a 14° analyzing magnet was employed to select deuterons of a given momentum range. The results for the ground state transition are consistent with those obtained at other incident energies. The angular distribution for the transition to the 20 MeV excited state of the recoiling α-particle was also obtained and the overall magnitude of the differential cross section is at least an order of magnitude smaller than that of the ground state transition. The plane wave impulse approximation (PWIA) was used to analyze the experimental results. A form factor was generated using the Saxon-Woods potential as the d-α inter-cluster potential. Satisfactory agreement between theory and experiment was obtained. A value of 0.45 ±0.08 was extracted for the deuteron clustering probability on ⁶Li. The exchange and the optical distortion effects were also discussed.     

First measurement of the exclusive (p,e+e−) reaction

We present the first data on the exclusive (p,e⁺e⁻) reaction in a nucleus. Cross sections for populating the ground state and first excited state in the residual nucleus are presented for the reaction ¹¹B(p, e⁺e⁻)¹²C at 98 MeV. The e⁺e⁻ momentum vectors were measured with a high-resolution magnetic pair spectrometer. The distributions of the virtual photon invariant mass and of the direction of the electron in the virtual photon rest system are compared with a simple single-nucleon model. The (p,e⁺e⁻) cross sections are compared with corresponding data for the (p, γ) reaction obtained with the same apparatus. The (p,e⁺e⁻) cross sections show substantial enhancement over what is expected from the simple model.     

Study of the 182W(t,p)184W reaction at 20 MeV

The ¹⁸²W(t, p)¹⁸⁴W reaction has been studied at 20 MeV. The outgoing protons were detected in an Elbek broad range magnetic spectrograph. Absolute cross sections and angular distributions were measured. Evidence for inelastic effects in the reaction mechanism was observed for the first excited 2⁺ state, the 3^? level at 1221 keV and the 5⁺ state at 1295 keV. The 0⁺ level at 1002 keV was populated with ≈ 2% the ground state cross section. A 4⁺ level at 1536 keV was observed with ≈ 50% the ground state cross section. Calculations of the absolute (t, p) cross sections to this and other states with known structure resulted in excellent agreement with the measured values.     

Energy dependence of optical-model parameters for the interaction of 6Li and 7Li Ions with 28Si nuclei at low energies

The results of a joint analysis of experimental data (angular distributions for scattering and total reaction cross sections) are presented for the case of the interaction of ^6,7Li ions with ²⁸Si nuclei at energies between 7.5 and 32 MeV. The respective calculations were performed on the basis of a deformed potential of the optical model by using the SPI-GENOA code. The energy dependences of the parameters of the macroscopic optical model and the total cross section for the (^6,7Li+²⁸Si) reactions were obtained over the energy interval from 7.5 to 32 MeV. The calculated angular distributions and total reaction cross sections are in good agreement with experimental data.     

Approximation of the electron excitation cross sections for triplet states excited from the 23 S 1 metastable state in helium

The method of approximated four-parameter representation of the electron-impact cross sections for a helium atom excited from the 2³ S ₁ metastable state into higher triplet states is applied and discussed. The approximation consists in interpolation over the whole set of the cross section values for each helium atomic level measured in our experiments and reported by other researchers. The approximation parameters and the cross sections calculated using these parameters for the maxima of the corresponding excitation functions are presented for 19 triplet levels of the S, P, and D HeI series with n=2–10. The interpolated values are compared to the theoretical cross sections. The serial regularities were investigated for the S, P, and D levels studied and a decrease in the cross sections for excitation from the given metastable state within each series, described by the approximate law Q=Cn ^?5, was revealed. Validity of the similarity relationship and the Bethe approximation for cross sections in the 2³ S?n ³ P series was verified. It is shown that the cross sections for a triplet level excitation from the 2³ S ₁ metastable state exceed the corresponding values for excitation from the ground state of helium by a factor of approximately 10³ for n=2 and 3 and 10 2 for the higher levels. It is concluded that the proposed method of representation of the cross sections for the electron-impact excitation of triplet levels from the metastable state increases accuracy and more importantly, reliability of the final results.