TY - JOUR
T1 - Experimental investigation of a linear-chain structure in the nucleus 14C
AU - Yamaguchi, H.
AU - Kahl, D.
AU - Hayakawa, S.
AU - Sakaguchi, Y.
AU - Abe, K.
AU - Nakao, T.
AU - Suhara, T.
AU - Iwasa, N.
AU - Kim, A.
AU - Kim, D. H.
AU - Cha, S. M.
AU - Kwag, M. S.
AU - Lee, J. H.
AU - Lee, E. J.
AU - Chae, K. Y.
AU - Wakabayashi, Y.
AU - Imai, N.
AU - Kitamura, N.
AU - Lee, P.
AU - Moon, J. Y.
AU - Lee, K. B.
AU - Akers, C.
AU - Jung, H. S.
AU - Duy, N. N.
AU - Khiem, L. H.
AU - Lee, C. S.
N1 - Funding Information:
We appreciate Prof. Y. Kanada-En'yo for the discussion and suggestion on the theoretical implication. The experiment was performed at RI Beam Factory operated by RIKEN Nishina Center and CNS, the University of Tokyo. We are grateful to the RIKEN and CNS accelerator staff for their beam production and acceleration. This work was partly supported by JSPS KAKENHI (Nos. 25800125, 15K17662, 16K05369, and 16H03980) in Japan, and the National Research Foundation Grant funded by Korea Government (Grant Nos. NRF-2009-0093817, NRF-2016R1D1A1A09917463, NRF-2016R1A5A1013277, and NRF-2016K1A3A7A09005579). This work was also supported in part by the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology under the Program of Development in the field of Physics by 2020 – Study of unstable nuclei beam induced nuclear reactions at RIKEN.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 The Author(s)
PY - 2017/3/10
Y1 - 2017/3/10
N2 - 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 α-cluster states in the radioactive 14C nucleus. Using the Be10+α 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.
AB - 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 α-cluster states in the radioactive 14C nucleus. Using the Be10+α 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.
KW - Linear-chain cluster state
KW - Nuclear cluster
KW - RI beam
KW - Resonant elastic scattering
KW - Thick-target method in inverse kinematics
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U2 - 10.1016/j.physletb.2016.12.050
DO - 10.1016/j.physletb.2016.12.050
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85008601946
SN - 0370-2693
VL - 766
SP - 11
EP - 16
JO - Physics Letters, Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics
JF - Physics Letters, Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics
ER -