The lowest excited states of 14C and 14O nuclei within a five-cluster model

TL;DR

This study models the lowest excited states of 14C and 14O nuclei using a five-cluster approach, revealing structural changes and detailed distributions of constituent particles.

Contribution

It introduces a high-accuracy variational five-cluster model to analyze mirror nuclei and their excited states, highlighting structural transitions.

Findings

Connected the first excited 0+ state with a change in the two-nucleon subsystem structure.

Calculated density distributions, form factors, and momentum distributions.

Identified the most probable shapes of five-cluster systems.

Abstract

We study the ground and the first excited $0^{+}$ states of two mirror nuclei $^{14}$C and $^{14}$O within a five-cluster model (three alpha-particles and two extra nucleons) with the use of high accuracy variational approach with Gaussian bases. The first excited $0^{+}$ state of these nuclei is shown to be connected with a change of the structure of the two-nucleon subsystem moving in the field of the $^{12}$C cluster. The density distributions, electric form factors (both the elastic and transition ones), pair correlation functions, and the momentum distributions of the constituent particles are found. The most probable shapes of five-cluster systems are revealed.