Determination of a dineutron correlation in Borromean nuclei via a quasi-free knockout ($p,pn$) reaction?

TL;DR

This paper investigates the dineutron correlation in Borromean nuclei, specifically $^6$He, using a quasi-free knockout reaction model to identify clear experimental signatures and assess the effects of resonance and target choice.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical framework combining a three-body model and reaction analysis to isolate dineutron correlations in knockout reactions, emphasizing the importance of kinematic conditions and target selection.

Findings

Dineutron correlation signatures can be isolated by excluding $^5$He resonance effects.

Proton targets are crucial for accurate quantitative analysis.

A proposed experimental setup can effectively determine dineutron correlations.

Abstract

To discuss the dineutron correlation in the ground state, the quasi-free neutron knockout reaction on $^6$He is investigated.In the present work, the momentum distribution of the two emitted neutrons is calculated with the $\alpha$~+~$n$~+~$n$ three-body model and a simple reaction model to assess the effects of the knockout process via the $^5$He resonance and the target dependence in the momentum distribution. A clear signature of the dineutron correlation can be obtained by choosing the kinematical condition so the process via the $^5$He resonance is excluded because the $^5$He resonance drastically changes the momentum distribution. Using the proton target is important in the quantitative discussion on the dineutron correlation by the knockout reaction. In addition to theoretical arguments, a possible experimental setup to determine the dineutron correlation via the quasi-free knockout reaction is considered.