Missing monopole strength of the Hoyle state in the inelastic $\alpha$+$^{12}$C scattering

TL;DR

This study investigates the discrepancy in monopole strength measurements of the Hoyle state in carbon-12, revealing that the missing strength is likely due to the state's short lifetime and weak binding, rather than analysis uncertainties.

Contribution

The paper provides a microscopic folding model analysis showing the missing monopole strength is linked to the Hoyle state's properties, not analysis errors.

Findings

The missing monopole strength is not due to analysis uncertainties.

Short lifetime and weak binding of the Hoyle state cause enhanced absorption.

The model predicts up to 22% of the EWSR is exhausted by the Hoyle state.

Abstract

Analyses of the inelastic $\alpha$+$^{12}$C scattering at medium energies have indicated that the strength of the Hoyle state (the isoscalar 0$^+_2$ excitation at 7.65 MeV in $^{12}$C) seems to exhaust only 7 to 9% of the monopole energy weighted sum rule (EWSR), compared to about 15% of the EWSR extracted from inelastic electron scattering data. The full monopole transition strength predicted by realistic microscopic $\alpha$-cluster models of the Hoyle state can be shown to exhaust up to 22% of the EWSR. To explore the missing monopole strength in the inelastic $\alpha$+$^{12}$C scattering, we have performed a fully microscopic folding model analysis of the inelastic $\alpha$+$^{12}$C scattering at $E_{\rm lab}=104$ to 240 MeV using the 3-$\alpha$ resonating group wave function of the Hoyle state obtained by Kamimura, and a complex density-dependent M3Y interaction newly parametrized based on the Brueckner Hartree Fock results for nuclear matter. Our folding model analysis has shown consistently that the missing monopole strength of the Hoyle state is not associated with the uncertainties in the analysis of the $\alpha$+$^{12}$C scattering, but is most likely due to the short lifetime and weakly bound structure of this state which significantly enhances absorption in the exit $\alpha$+$^{12}$C$^*(0^+_2)$ channel.