Background: Theoretical calculations have shown that the energy and angular correlations in the three-body decay of the two-neutron unbound O26 can provide information on the ground-state wave function, which has been predicted to have a dineutron co
nfiguration and 2n halo structure. Purpose: To use the experimentally measured three-body correlations to gain insight into the properties of O26, including the decay mechanism and ground-state resonance energy. Method: O26 was produced in a one-proton knockout reaction from F27 and the O24+n+n decay products were measured using the MoNA-Sweeper setup. The three-body correlations from the O26 ground-state resonance decay were extracted. The experimental results were compared to Monte Carlo simulations in which the resonance energy and decay mechanism were varied. Results: The measured three-body correlations were well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulations but were not sensitive to the decay mechanism due to the experimental resolutions. However, the three-body correlations were found to be sensitive to the resonance energy of O26. A 1{sigma} upper limit of 53 keV was extracted for the ground-state resonance energy of O26. Conclusions: Future attempts to measure the three-body correlations from the ground-state decay of O26 will be very challenging due to the need for a precise measurement of the O24 momentum at the reaction point in the target.
The Modular Neutron Array (MoNA) and 4 Tm Sweeper magnet were used to measure the free neutrons and heavy charged particles from the radioactive ion beam induced 32Mg + 9Be reaction. The fragmentation reaction was simulated with the Constrained Molec
ular Dynamics model(CoMD), which demonstrated that the <N/Z> of the heavy fragments and free neutron multiplicities were observables sensitive to the density dependence of the symmetry energy at sub-saturation densities. Through comparison of these simulations with the experimental data constraints on the density dependence of the symmetry energy were extracted. The advantage of radioactive ion beams as a probe of the symmetry energy is demonstrated through examination of CoMD calculations for stable and radioactive beam induced reactions.
A search for the neutron-unbound nucleus $^{21}$C was performed via the single proton removal reaction from a beam of 22 N at 68 MeV/u. Neutrons were detected with the Modular Neutron Array (MoNA) in coincidence with $^{20}$C fragments. No evidence f
or a low-lying state was found, and the reconstructed $^{20}$C+n decay energy spectrum could be described with an s-wave line shape with a scattering length limit of |as| < 2.8 fm, consistent with shell model predictions. A comparison with a renormalized zero-range three-body model suggests that $^{22}$C is bound by less than 70 keV.
A new technique was developed to measure the lifetimes of neutron unbound nuclei in the picosecond range. The decay of 26O -> 24O+n+n was examined as it had been predicted to have an appreciable lifetime due to the unique structure of the neutron-ric
h oxygen isotopes. The half-life of 26O was extracted as 4.5^{+1.1}_{-1.5}(stat.) +/- 3 (sys.) ps. This corresponds to 26O having a finite lifetime at an 82% confidence level and, thus, suggests the possibility of two-neutron radioactivity.
Neutron-unbound resonant states of 11Be were populated in neutron knock-out reactions from 12Be and identified by 10Be-n coincidence measurements. A resonance in the decay-energy spectrum at 80(2) keV was attributed to a highly excited unbound state
in 11Be at 3.949(2) MeV decaying to the 2+ excited state in 10Be. A knockout cross section of 15(3) mb was inferred for this 3.949(2) MeV state suggesting a spectroscopic factor near unity for this 0p3/2- level, consistent with the detailed shell model calculations.
The two-proton knockout reaction 9Be(26Ne,O2p) was used to explore excited unbound states of 23O and 24O. In 23O a state at an excitation energy of 2.79(13) MeV was observed. There was no conclusive evidence for the population of excited states in 24O.
The first excited state in neutron-rich 23O was observed in a (2p1n) knock-out reaction from 26Ne on a beryllium target at a beam energy of 86 MeV/A. The state is unbound with respect to neutron emission and was reconstructed from the invariant mass
from the 22O fragment and the neutron. It is unbound by 45(2) keV corresponding to an excitation energy of 2.8(1) MeV. The non-observation of further resonances implies a predominantly direct reaction mechanism of the employed three-nucleon-removal reaction which suggests the assignment of the observed resonance to be the 5/2+ hole state.
The Modular Neutron Array (MoNA) was used in conjunction with a large-gap dipole magnet (Sweeper) to measure neutron-unbound states in oxygen isotopes close to the neutron dripline. While no excited states were observed in 24O, a resonance at 45(2) k
eV above the neutron separation energy was observed in 23O.
The results of measurements of the production of neutron-rich nuclei by the fragmentation of a 48Ca beam at 142 MeV/u are presented. Evidence was found for the production of a new isotope that is the most neutron-rich silicon nuclide, 44Si, in a net
neutron pick-up process. A simple systematic framework was found to describe the production cross sections based on thermal evaporation from excited prefragments that allows extrapolation to other weak reaction products.
