# The Hoyle State in Relativistic ${}^{12}$C Dissociation

## TL;DR

This paper investigates the production of the Hoyle state in relativistic dissociation of carbon nuclei, revealing its contribution to alpha particle formation and reanalyzing oxygen dissociation data to quantify its role.

## Contribution

It provides new measurements of the Hoyle state's contribution to nuclear dissociation processes at relativistic energies.

## Key findings

- HS contributes 11% to ${}^{12}$C dissociation into 3α
- HS contributes 22% to ${}^{16}$O dissociation into 4α
- Reanalysis confirms significant role of HS in nuclear dissociation

## Abstract

Production of $\alpha$-particle triples in the Hoyle state (HS) in dissociation of ${}^{12}$C nuclei at 3.65 and 0.42 $A$ GeV in nuclear track emulsion is revealed by the invariant mass approach. Contribution of the HS to the dissociation ${}^{12}$C $\to$ 3$\alpha$ is (11 $\pm$ 3) \%. Reanalysis of data on coherent dissociation ${}^{16}$O $\to$ 4$\alpha$ at 3.65 $A$ GeV is revealed the HS contribution of (22 $\pm$ 2) \%.