Abstract
The fragmentation of quasi-projectiles from the nuclear reaction 40 Ca+ 12 C at 25 MeV/nucleon was used to produce excited states candidates to α-particle condensation. Complete kinematic characterization of individual decay events, made possible by the CHIMERA highgranularity 4π charged particle multi-detector, reveals that 7.5±4.0 % of the Hoyle state particle decays correspond to direct decays in three equal-energy α-particles. Moreover, events with increased kinetic energy dispersion in the 12 C center of mass, which amount to 9.5±4.0 %, point toward the occurrence of a second competing molecular configuration, of a linear α-chain.
Highlights
EPJ Web of Conferences self conjugate lighter nuclei, in the same way as superfluid nuclei are the finite-size counterpart of superfluid nuclear and neutron matter
Convincing pleading in favour of α-particle condensation in nuclei is provided by the excellent theoretical description of the Hoyle state and of the 0+6 state at 15.097 MeV of 16O in terms of condensate type wave functions [4, 5]
A note of caution has to be added though: according to recent Fermionic Molecular Dynamics (FMD) calculations [6] and pioneering works of Uegaki et al [7], the Hoyle state has rather to be regarded as a mixture of configurations where exotic linear chains may exist among others
Summary
EPJ Web of Conferences self conjugate lighter nuclei, in the same way as superfluid nuclei are the finite-size counterpart of superfluid nuclear and neutron matter. The correlated spectrum allows one to estimate the ratio of background events (particles in coincidence originating from pysically uncorrelated events) with respect to genuine three-particle decays. The question which arises now is whether some of the 3α-decays of the Hoyle state do correspond to an α-particle condensate.
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