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Register a new userOrigin of the anomalous long lifetime of 14C
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We report the microscopic origins of the anomalously suppressed beta decay of 14C to 14N using the ab initio no-core shell model (NCSM) with the Hamiltonian from chiral effective field theory (EFT) including three-nucleon force (3NF) terms. The 3NF induces unexpectedly large cancellations within the p-shell between contributions to beta decay, which reduce the traditionally large contributions from the NN interactions by an order of magnitude, leading to the long lifetime of 14C.
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In a neutron lifetime measurement at the Japan Proton Accelerator Complex, the neutron lifetime is calculated by the neutron decay rate and the incident neutron flux. The flux is obtained due to counting the protons emitted from the neutron absorption reaction of ${}^{3}{rm He}$ gas, which is diluted in a mixture of working gas in a detector. Hence, it is crucial to determine the amount of ${}^{3}{rm He}$ in the mixture. In order to improve the accuracy of the number density of the ${}^{3}{rm He}$ nuclei, we suggested to use the ${}^{14}{rm N}({rm n},{rm p}){}^{14}{rm C}$ reaction as a reference because this reaction involves similar kinetic energy as the ${}^{3}{rm He}({rm n},{rm p}){}^{3}{rm H}$ reaction and a smaller reaction cross section to introduce reasonable large partial pressure. The uncertainty of the recommended value of the cross section, however, is not satisfied with our requirement. In this paper, we report the most accurate experimental value of the cross section of the ${}^{14}{rm N}({rm n},{rm p}){}^{14}{rm C}$ reaction at a neutron velocity of 2200 m/s, measured relative to the ${}^{3}{rm He}({rm n},{rm p}){}^{3}{rm H}$ reaction. The result was 1.868 $pm$ 0.003 (stat.) $pm$ 0.006 (sys.) b. Additionally, the cross section of the ${}^{17}{rm O}({rm n},{rm alpha}){}^{14}{rm C}$ reaction at the neutron velocity is also redetermined as 249 $pm$ 6 mb.
Ab initio study of the density-dependent population and lifetime of the long-lived $(mu p)_{2s}$ and the yield of $(mu p)_{1s}$ atoms with kinetic energy 0.9 keV have been performed for the first time. The direct Coulomb $2sto 1s$ deexcitation is proved to be the dominant quenching mechanism of the $2s$ state at kinetic energy below $2p$ threshold and explain the lifetime of the metastable $2s$ state and high-energy 0.9 keV component of $(mu p)_{1S}$ observed at low densities. The cross sections of the elastic, Stark and Coulomb deexcitation processes have been calculated in the close-coupling approach taking into account for the first time both the closed channels and the threshold effects due to vacuum polarization shifts of the $ns$ states. The cross sections are used as the input data in the detailed study of the atomic cascade kinetics. The theoretical predictions are compared with the known experimental data at low densities. The 40% yield of the 0.9 keV$(mu p)_{1s}$ atoms is predicted for liquid hydrogen density.
The linear-chain states of $^{14}$C are theoretically investigated by using the antisymmetrized molecular dynamics. The calculated excitation energies and the $alpha$ decay widths of the linear-chain states were compared with the observed data reported by the recent experiments. The properties of the positive-parity linear-chain states reasonably agree with the observation, that convinces us of the linear-chain formation in the positive-parity states. On the other hand, in the negative-parity states, it is found that the linear-chain configuration is fragmented into many states and do not form a single rotational band. As a further evidence of the linear-chain formation, we focus on the $alpha$ decay pattern. It is shown that the linear-chain states decay to the excited states of daughter nucleus $^{10}{rm Be}$ as well as to the ground state, while other cluster states dominantly decay into the ground state. Hence, we regard that this characteristic decay pattern is a strong signature of the linear-chain formation.
A study of the 7Li(9Be,4He 10Be)2H reaction at E{beam}=70 MeV has been performed using resonant particle spectroscopy techniques and provides the first measurements of alpha-decaying states in 14C. Excited states are observed at 14.7, 15.5, 16.4, 18.5, 19.8, 20.6, 21.4, 22.4 and 24.0 MeV. The experimental technique was able to resolve decays to the various particle bound states in 10Be, and provides evidence for the preferential decay of the high energy excited states into states in 10Be at ~6 MeV. The decay processes are used to indicate the possible cluster structure of the 14C excited states.
It is a well-known fact that a cluster of nucleons can be formed in the interior of an atomic nucleus, and such clusters may occupy molecular-like orbitals, showing characteristics similar to normal molecules consisting of atoms. Chemical molecules having a linear alignment are commonly seen in nature, such as carbon dioxide. A similar linear alignment of the nuclear clusters, referred to as linear-chain cluster state (LCCS), has been studied since the 1950s, however, up to now there is no clear experimental evidence demonstrating the existence of such a state. Recently, it was proposed that an excess of neutrons may offer just such a stabilizing mechanism, revitalizing interest in the nuclear LCCS, specifically with predictions for their emergence in neutron-rich carbon isotopes. Here we present the experimental observation of {alpha}-cluster states in the radioactive 14C nucleus. Using the 10Be+{alpha} resonant scattering method with a radioactive beam, we observed a series of levels which completely agree with theoretically predicted levels having an explicit linear-chain cluster configuration. We regard this as the first strong indication of the linear-chain clustered nucleus.
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