The $^{6}$H states studied in the $^2\text{He}(^8\text{He},^4\text{He})$ reaction and evidence of extremely correlated character of the $^{5}$H ground state

TL;DR

This study investigates the extremely neutron-rich isotope $^{6}$H using a transfer reaction, revealing a broad resonant state at about 6.8 MeV and evidence of strong dineutron correlations, providing insights into its decay mechanisms and ground state properties.

Contribution

The paper provides the first experimental evidence of a broad resonant state in $^{6}$H near 6.8 MeV and suggests a lower limit of 4.5 MeV for its ground state energy, highlighting its correlated decay behavior.

Findings

Broad resonance in $^{6}$H at 6.8 MeV

Resonant state energy lower limit at 4.5 MeV

Strong dineutron correlations in $^{5}$H decay

Abstract

The extremely neutron-rich system $^{6}$H was studied in the direct $^2\text{H}(^8\text{He},{^4\text{He}})^{6}$H transfer reaction with a $26 A$ MeV secondary $^{8}$He beam. The measured missing mass spectrum shows a broad bump at $\sim 4-8$ MeV above the $^3$H+$3n$ decay threshold. This bump can be interpreted as a broad resonant state in $^{6}$H at $6.8(5)$ MeV. The population cross section of such a presumably $p$-wave state (or may be few overlapping states) in the energy range from 4 to 8 MeV is $d\sigma/d\Omega_{\text{c.m.}} \simeq 190^{+40}_{-80}$ $\mu$b/sr in the angular range $5^{\circ}<\theta_{\text{c.m.}}<16^{\circ}$. The obtained missing mass spectrum is practically free of the $^{6}$H events below 3.5 MeV ($d\sigma/d\Omega_{\text{c.m.}} \lesssim 5$ $\mu$b/sr in the same angular range). The steep rise of the $^{6}$H missing mass spectrum at $\sim 3$ MeV allows to derive the lower limit for the possible resonant-state energy in $^{6}$H to be $4.5(3)$ MeV. According to the paring energy estimates, such a $4.5(3)$ MeV resonance is a realistic candidate for the $^{6}$H ground state (g.s.). The obtained results confirm that the decay mechanism of the $^{7}$H g.s.\ (located at 2.2 MeV above the $^{3}$H+$4n$ threshold) is the "true" (or simultaneous) $4n$ emission. The resonance energy profiles and the momentum distributions of fragments of the sequential $^{6}$H$ \,\rightarrow \, ^5$H(g.s.)+$n\, \rightarrow \, ^3$H+$3n$ decay were analyzed by the theoretically-updated direct four-body-decay and sequential-emission mechanisms. The measured momentum distributions of the $^{3}$H fragments in the $^{6}$H rest frame indicate very strong "dineutron-type" correlations in the $^{5}$H ground state decay.