No Arabic abstract
Background: Recent theoretical and experimental researches using proton-induced $alpha$-knockout reactions provide direct manifestation of $alpha$-cluster formation in nuclei. In recent and future experiments, $alpha$-knockout data are available for neutron-rich beryllium isotopes. In $^{12}$Be , rich phenomena are induced by the formation of $alpha$-clusters surrounded by neutrons, for instance, breaking of the neutron magic number $N=8$. Purpose: Our objective is to provide direct probing of the $alpha$-cluster formation in the $^{12}$Be target through associating the structure information obtained by a microscopic theory with the experimental observables of $alpha$-knockout reactions. Method: We formulate a new wave function of the Tohsaki-Horiuchi-Schuck-R{o}pke (THSR) type for the structure calculation of ${}^{12}$Be nucleus and integrate it with the distorted wave impulse approximation framework for the $alpha$-knockout reaction calculation of $^{12}$Be$(p,palpha)^{8}$He. Results: We reproduce the low-lying spectrum of the $^{12}$Be nucleus using the THSR wave function and discuss the cluster structure of the ground state. Based on the microscopic wave function, the optical potentials and $alpha$-cluster wave function are determined and utilized in the calculation of ${}^{12}$Be($p,palpha$)${}^{8}$He reaction at 250 MeV. The possibility of probing the clustering state of $^{12}$Be through this reaction is demonstrated by analysis of the triple differential cross sections that are sensitively dependent on the $alpha$-cluster amplitude at the nuclear surface. Conclusions: This study provides a feasible approach to validate directly the theoretical predictions of clustering features in the $^{12}$Be nucleus through the $alpha$-knockout reaction.
For more than half a century, the structure of $^{12}$C, such as the ground band, has been understood to be well described by the three $alpha$ cluster model based on a geometrical crystalline picture. On the contrary, recently it has been claimed that the ground state of $^{12}$C is also well described by a nonlocalized cluster model without any of the geometrical configurations originally proposed to explain the dilute gas-like Hoyle state, which is now considered to be a Bose-Einstein condensate of $alpha$ clusters. The challenging unsolved problem is how we can reconcile the two exclusive $alpha$ cluster pictures of $^{12}$C, crystalline vs nonlocalized structure. We show that the crystalline cluster picture and the nonlocalized cluster picture can be reconciled by noticing that they are a manifestation of supersolidity with properties of both crystallinity and superfluidity. This is achieved through a superfluid $alpha$ cluster model based on effective field theory, which treats the Nambu-Goldstone zero mode rigorously. For several decades, scientists have been searching for a supersolid in nature.Nuclear $alpha$ cluster structure is considered to be the first confirmed example of a stable supersolid.
We propose a new approach to probe the spatial extension of the valence neutron orbital in the $^{9}$Be nucleus via the ${}^{9}$Be($p,pn$)${}^{8}$Be knockout reaction. This property of the nuclear molecular orbital has not been established in previous experimental studies and divergence exists between the theoretical descriptions of ${}^{9}$Be from different perspectives, textit{i.e.}, the antisymmetrized molecular dynamics and the container pictures of cluster dynamics. These pictures are represented by two different well-proven microscopic models, the antisymmetrized molecular dynamics (AMD) and Tohsaki-Horiuchi-Schuck-R{o}pke (THSR) wave functions. The corresponding reduced width amplitudes (RWAs) in the $^{8}$Be$+n$ channel are extracted from both the AMD and THSR wave functions, and they are found to describe drastically different valence-nucleon motion, which shows the theoretical ambiguity in describing the $pi$-orbitals in $^{9}$Be. Using the RWAs as input, the physical observables of the ${}^{9}$Be($p,pn$)${}^{8}$Be knockout reaction are predicted by the distorted-wave impulse approximation (DWIA) framework. The magnitudes of the triple-differential cross sections (TDX) are found to be highly sensitive to the RWA input. It is concluded that the ${}^{9}$Be($p,pn$)${}^{8}$Be knockout reaction could provide a feasible probing for the subtle differences between several structure models manifesting through the spatial extension of the $pi$-orbital in the $^{9}$Be nucleus.
Direct evidence of the $alpha$-cluster manifestation in bound states has not been obtained yet, although a number of experimental studies were carried out to extract the information of the clustering. In particular in conventional analyses of $alpha$-transfer reactions, there exist a few significant problems on reaction models, which are insufficient to qualitatively discuss the cluster structure. We aim to verify the development of the $alpha$-cluster structure from observables. As the first application, we plan to extract the spatial information of the cluster structure of the $^{20}$Ne nucleus in its ground state through the cross section of the $alpha$-transfer reaction $^{16}$O($^6$Li,~$d$)$^{20}$Ne. For the analysis of the transfer reaction, we work with the coupled-channel Born approximation (CCBA) approach, in which the breakup effect of $^6$Li is explicitly taken into account by means of the continuum-discretized coupled-channel method based on the three-body $alpha + d + {}^{16}$O model. The two methods are adopted to calculate the overlap function between $^{20}$Ne and $alpha + {}^{16}$O; one is the microscopic cluster model (MCM) with the generator coordinate method, and the other is the phenomenological two-body potential model (PM). We show that the CCBA calculation with the MCM wave function gives a significant improvement of the theoretical result on the angular distribution of the transfer cross section, which is consistent with the experimental data. Employing the PM, it is discussed which region of the cluster wave function is probed on the transfer cross section. It is found that the surface region of the cluster wave function is sensitive to the cross section. The present work is situated as the first step in obtaining important information to systematically investigate the cluster structure.
A study of the 7Li(9Be,4He9Be)3H reaction at E{beam}=70 MeV has been performed using resonant particle spectroscopy techniques and provides a measurement of alpha-decaying states in 13C. Excited states are observed at 12.0, 13.4, 14.1, 14.6, 15.2, 16.8, 17.9, 18.7, 21.3 and 23.9 MeV. This study provides the first measurement of the three highest energy states. Angular distribution measurements have been performed and have been employed to indicate the transferred angular momentum for the populated states. These data are compared with recent speculations of the presence of chain-like structures in 13C.
The study of inelastic scattering and multi-nucleon transfer reactions was performed by bombarding a $^{9}$Be target with a $^3$He beam at an incident energy of 30 MeV. Angular distributions for $^9$Be($^3$He,$^3$He)$^{9}$Be, $^9$Be($^3$He,$^4$He)$^{8}$Be, $^9$Be($^3$He,$^5$He)$^{7}$Be, $^9$Be($^3$He,$^6$Li)$^6$Li and $^9$Be($^3$He,$^5$Li)$^7$Li reaction channels were measured. Experimental angular distributions for the corresponding ground states (g.s.) were analysed within the framework of the optical model, the coupled-channel approach and the distorted-wave Born approximation. Cross sections for channels leading to unbound $^5$He$_{g.s.}$, $^5$Li$_{g.s.}$ and $^8$Be systems were obtained from singles measurements where the relationship between the energy and the scattering angle of the observed stable ejectile is constrained by two-body kinematics. Information on the cluster structure of $^{9}$Be was obtained from the transfer channels. It was concluded that cluster transfer is an important mechanism in the investigated nuclear reactions. In the present work an attempt was made to estimate the relative strengths of the interesting $^8$Be+$n$ and $^5$He+$alpha$ cluster configurations in $^9$Be. The branching ratios have been determined confirming that the $^5$He+$alpha$ configuration plays an important role. The configuration of $^9$Be consisting of two bound helium clusters $^3$He+$^6$He is significantly suppressed, whereas the two-body configurations ${}^{8}$Be+$n$ and ${}^{5}$He+$alpha$ including unbound $^8$Be and $^5$He are found more probable.