# The Hoyle state in relativistic dissociation of light nuclei

## TL;DR

This study investigates the presence of the Hoyle state in relativistic dissociation of light nuclei by analyzing nuclear emulsion data, identifying the state through invariant mass calculations, and quantifying its contribution to specific dissociation channels.

## Contribution

It provides the first analysis of the Hoyle state in relativistic dissociation of ${}^{12}$C, ${}^{16}$O, and ${}^{22}$Ne nuclei using nuclear emulsion data, with quantification of its contribution.

## Key findings

- The Hoyle state contributes 11% to ${}^{12}$C dissociation into 3$\
- The contribution of the Hoyle state in ${}^{16}$O dissociation reaches 22%.
- The channel ${}^{16}$O $ o$ 2${}^{8}$Be accounts for 5%.

## Abstract

In the context of the search for triples of relativistic $\alpha$-particles in the Hoyle state, the analysis of available data on the dissociation of the nuclei ${}^{12}$C, ${}^{16}$O and ${}^{22}$Ne in the nuclear emulsion was carried out. The Hoyle state is identified by the invariant mass calculated from pair angles of expansion in $\alpha$-triples in the approximation of the conservation of the momentum per nucleon of the parent nucleus. The contribution of the Hoyle state to the dissociation of ${}^{12}$C $\to$ 3$\alpha$ is 11\%. In the case of the coherent dissociation of ${}^{16}$O $\to$ 4$\alpha$ it reaches 22\% when the portion of the channel ${}^{16}$O $\to$ 2${}^{8}$Be is equal to 5\%.