On the High Excitation 7$\alpha$ De-exciting States in $^{28}$Si$^*$

TL;DR

This study compares spectra of $^{28}$Si$^*$ disassembly, confirming high excitation energy resonances and their consistency with recent theoretical predictions of toroidal nuclei, using AI-assisted statistical analysis.

Contribution

It provides a direct comparison of experimental spectra, confirming the excitation energies of high-energy resonances and supporting recent theoretical models of toroidal nuclear states.

Findings

Agreement in excitation energies across experiments

Resonances consistent with toroidal nucleus predictions

AI-assisted analysis reveals identical spectral structures

Abstract

A direct comparison and analysis of published spectra for the 7$\alpha$ disassembly of $^{28}$Si projectiles excited in collisions with $^{12}$C at 35 MeV/u reveals significant agreement in the derived excitation energies of high excitation energy resonances observed in two different experiments, in contrast to some earlier conclusions reported in the literature. Many of the observed resonances have excitation energies consistent with those arrived at in recent theoretical investigations explicitly predicting the excitation energies and spins of toroidal nuclei. An AI-assisted application of well-established statistical filtering techniques reveals identical structures in all spectra investigated. Some additional peaks are observed. The possibility that they correspond to other favored geometries is discussed.