Halo structure of $^{17}$C

TL;DR

This paper uses Halo effective field theory to analyze the structure and properties of $^{17}$C, focusing on its low-energy states and their electromagnetic and capture characteristics, providing predictions for unmeasured quantities.

Contribution

It applies Halo EFT to $^{17}$C, offering new predictions for charge radius, magnetic moment, and neutron capture rates of its low-lying states, highlighting the approach's predictive power.

Findings

Predicted charge radius and magnetic moment of the $1/2^+$ state.

Calculated electromagnetic transition rates and capture cross sections.

Demonstrated the effectiveness of Halo EFT for states with different angular momenta.

Abstract

$^{17}$C has three states below the $^{16}$C + $n$ threshold with quantum numbers $J^P=3/2^+,1/2^+,5/2^+$. These states have relatively small neutron separation energies compared to the neutron separation and excitation energies of $^{16}$C. This separation of scales motivates our investigation of $^{17}$C in a Halo effective field theory (Halo EFT) with a $^{16}$C core and a valence neutron as degrees of freedom. We discuss various properties of the three states such as electric radii, magnetic moments, electromagnetic transition rates and capture cross sections. In particular, we give predictions for the charge radius and the magnetic moment of the $1/2^+$ state and for neutron capture on $^{16}$C into this state. Furthermore, we discuss the predictive power of the Halo EFT approach for the $3/2^+$ and $5/2^+$ states which are described by a neutron in a $D$-wave relative to the core.