Unbound exotic nuclei studied by projectile fragmentation

TL;DR

This paper models projectile fragmentation of neutron halo nuclei using a time-dependent approach to analyze neutron-core interactions, providing insights into unbound nuclei structure through energy spectra.

Contribution

It introduces a time-dependent model incorporating complex potentials and optical model S-matrix to study neutron-core continuum states in projectile fragmentation.

Findings

Neutron-core phase shifts are modified by initial-final state coupling.

The model can describe both resonant and non-resonant continuum states.

Numerical results align with experimental data on energy spectra.

Abstract

We call "projectile fragmentation" of neutron halo nuclei the elastic breakup (diffraction) reaction, when the observable studied is the neutron-core relative energy spectrum. This observable has been measured in relation to the Coulomb breakup on heavy target and recently also on light targets. Such data enlighten the effect of the neutron final state interaction with the core of origin. Projectile fragmentation is studied here by a time dependent model for the excitation of a nucleon from a bound state to a continuum resonant state in a neutron-core complex potential which acts as a final state interaction. The final state is described by an optical model S-matrix so that both resonant and non resonant states of any continuum energy can be studied as well as deeply bound initial states. It turns out that due to the coupling between the initial and final states, the neutron-core free particle phase shifts are modified, in the exit channel, by an additional phase. Some typical numerical calculations for the relevant observables are presented and compared to experimental data. It is suggest that the excitation energy spectra of an unbound nucleus might reflect the structure of the parent nucleus from whose fragmentation they are obtained.