Clustering in $^{18}$O -- absolute determination of branching ratios via high-resolution particle spectroscopy

TL;DR

This paper presents a high-resolution particle spectroscopy method using Monte Carlo techniques to accurately determine absolute branching ratios in $^{18}$O, aiding nuclear structure analysis.

Contribution

It introduces a novel Monte Carlo-based approach to measure absolute branching ratios in light nuclei, addressing challenges of similar decay channels and efficiency differences.

Findings

Accurate branching ratios for $^{18}$O states obtained

Method overcomes decay channel similarity issues

Enhanced understanding of nuclear structure in light nuclei

Abstract

The determination of absolute branching ratios for high-energy states in light nuclei is an important and useful tool for probing the underlying nuclear structure of individual resonances: for example, in establishing the tendency of an excited state towards $\alpha$-cluster structure. Difficulty arises in measuring these branching ratios due to similarities in available decay channels, such as ($\mathbf{^{18}}$O,$\mathbf{n}$) and ($\mathbf{^{18}}$O,$\mathbf{2n}$), as well as differences in geometric efficiencies due to population of bound excited levels in daughter nuclei. Methods are presented using Monte Carlo techniques to overcome these issues.