Unstable nuclei in dissociation of light stable and radioactive nuclei in nuclear track emulsion

TL;DR

This study investigates the role of unstable nuclei like ${}^{6}$Be, ${}^{8}$Be, and ${}^{9}$B in the dissociation of relativistic light nuclei using nuclear track emulsion, revealing detailed configurations and decay pathways.

Contribution

It provides new quantitative insights into the configurations and decay modes of unstable nuclei in relativistic dissociation processes, using nuclear track emulsion techniques.

Findings

${}^{6}$Be + n contributes 8% to ${}^{7}$Be structure.

Simultaneous presence of ${}^{8}$Be ground and excited states in ${}^{9}$Be and ${}^{10}$C.

${}^{8}$Be$_{g.s.}$ appears in 24-27% of certain dissociation events.

Abstract

A role of the unstable nuclei ${}^{6}$Be, ${}^{8}$Be and ${}^{9}$B in the dissociation of relativistic nuclei ${}^{7,9}$Be, ${}^{10}$B and ${}^{10,11}$C is under study on the basis of nuclear track emulsion exposed to secondary beams of the JINR Nuclotron. Contribution of the configuration ${}^{6}$Be + $\mit{n}$ to the ${}^{7}$Be nucleus structure is 8 $\pm$ 1% which is near the value for the configuration ${}^{6}$Li + $\mit{p}$. Distributions over the opening angle of $\alpha$-particle pairs indicate to a simultaneous presence of virtual ${}^{8}$Be$_{g.s.}$ and ${}^{8}$Be$_{2^+}$ states in the ground states of the ${}^{9}$Be and ${}^{10}$C nuclei. The core ${}^{9}$B is manifested in the {${}^{10}$C} nucleus with a probability of 30 $\pm$ 4%. Selection of the ${}^{10}$C "white" stars accompanied by ${}^{8}$Be$_{g.s.}$ (${}^{9}$B) leads to appearance in the excitation energy distribution of 2$\alpha$2$\mit{p}$ "quartets" of the distinct peak with a maximum at 4.1 $\pm$ 0.3 MeV. ${}^{8}$Be$_{g.s.}$ decays are presented in 24 $\pm$ 7% of 2He + 2H events of the ${}^{11}$C coherent dissociation and 27 $\pm$ 11% of the 3He ones. The channel ${}^{9}$B + H amounts 14 $\pm$ 3%. The ${}^{8}$Be$_{g.s.}$ nucleus is manifested in the coherent dissociation ${}^{10}$B $\to$ 2He + H with a probability of 25 $\pm$ 5% including 14 $\pm$ 3% of ${}^{9}$B decays. A probability ratio of the mirror channels ${}^{9}$B + $\mit{n}$ and ${}^{9}$Be + $\mit{p}$ is estimated to be 6 $\pm$ 1.