The three-nucleon system as a laboratory for nuclear physics: the need for 3N forces

Recent experimental results in three-body systems have unambiguously shown that calculations based on nucleon-nucleon forces fail to accurately describe many experimental observables and one needs to include effects which are beyond the realm of the two-body potentials. This conclusion owes its significance to the fact that experiments and calculations can both be performed with a high accuracy. In this short review, a sample of recent experimental results along with the results of the state-of-the-art calculations will be presented and discussed.Comment: Commissioned article for Nuclear Physics News, 8 pages, 6 figure

Matter radius of the doubly-magic ⁵⁶ Ni measured in a storage ring

The matter radius of the doubly magic 56Ni was extracted from a measurement of the differential cross section by employing, for the first time, elastic proton scattering in inverse kinematics with a radioactive beam at Ekin= 390.2 MeV/nucleon circulating in a storage ring and passing an internal hydrogen gas-jet target with a revolution frequency of around 2 MHz. The novel experimental scheme is based on UHV-compatible Si detectors operated as active vacuum windows, which were implemented in the ESR storage ring at GSI. A matter radius &lt;rm2&gt;1/2=3.74-0.06+0.03 fm was extracted for the doubly-magic self-conjugate nucleus 56Ni.</p

Accurate simultaneous lead stopping power and charge-state measurements in gases and solids:Benchmark data for basic atomic theory and nuclear applications

We have measured for the first time simultaneously both the mean charge states and stopping powers of (35–280) MeV/u 208Pb ions in gases and solids with an accuracy of 1%. The existence at lower energies and disappearance at higher of density effects in the charge-state distribution and the corresponding stopping power are directly confirmed and comparisons with widely used theories and simulations for heavy ions demonstrate strong deviations of up to 27%. However, an unprecedented prediction power of better than 3% has been achieved for the energy loss when the measured mean charge-states are implemented in the Lindhard-Sørensen theory. Our present benchmark data contribute to an improved understanding of the basic atomic collision processes and to numerous applications in nuclear physics. Extending the GANIL data [1] to higher accuracy and energies, we can now answer at which velocities the Bohr-Lindhard density effect in stopping will vanish.</p

WASA-FRS EXPERIMENTS IN FAIR PHASE-0 AT GSI

We have developed a new and unique experimental setup integrating the central part of the Wide Angle Shower Apparatus (WASA) into the Fragment Separator (FRS) at GSI. This combination opens up possibilities of new experiments with high-resolution spectroscopy at forward 0◦ and measurements of light decay particles with nearly full solid-angle acceptance in coincidence. The first series of the WASA-FRS experiments have been successfully carried out in 2022. The developed experimental setup and two physics experiments performed in 2022 including the status of the preliminary data analysis are introduced.</p

Spectroscopy of η⁰-mesic nuclei with WASA at GSI/FAIR

We plan to conduct an experimental search for η0-mesic nuclei in order to investigate in-medium properties of the η0 meson. A 2.5 GeV proton beam is employed to produce η0-mesic 11C nuclei with the 12C(p,d)η0⊗ 11C reaction. Simultaneous measurements of the forward ejected deuterons and decay protons from η0-mesic nuclei will allow us to achieve high experimental sensitivity. The experiment will be performed at GSI by making full use of the fragment separator FRS and the WASA detector system. The plan of this proposed experiment is described.</p

Measurement of the cross section of e + e − → ηπ + π − at center-of-mass energies from 3.872 GeV to 4.700 GeV

Using data samples with an integrated luminosity of 19 fb−1 at twenty-eight center-of-mass energies from 3.872 GeV to 4.700 GeV collected with the BESIII detector at the BEPCII electron-positron collider, the process e+e− → ηπ+π− and the intermediate process e+e− → ηρ0 are studied for the first time. The Born cross sections are measured. No significant resonance structure is observed in the cross section lineshape. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

Experimental Studies of Few-nucleon Systems at Intermediate Energies

Systems composed of 3 nucleons are a subject of precise experimental studies for many years. At the first stage the investigations were mainly focused on elastic nucleon-deuteron scattering, slowly extending to systematic measurements of the deuteron breakup reaction. Intermediate energies, below the threshold for pion production, deserve special attention: it is the region where comparison with exact theoretical calculations is possible, while the sensitivity to various aspects of interaction, like subtle effects of the dynamics beyond the pairwise nucleon-nucleon force, is significant. Moreover, the Coulomb interaction and relativistic effects show their influence in the observables of the breakup reaction. All these effects vary with energy and appear with different strength in certain observables and phase space regions, what calls for systematic investigations of a possibly rich set of observables determined in a wide range of energies. The next step in complication of the system are studies of reactions involving 4 nucleons—more sensitive, as expected, to subtle dynamics beyond the pairwise interaction. A brief survey of recent and planned experiments in the 3- and 4-nucleon systems is given

Precision studies of few-nucleon system dynamics

Modern nucleon-nucleon interaction models can be probed quantitatively in the three-nucleon (3N) environment by comparing predictions based on rigorous solutions of the Faddeev equations with the measured observables. Proper description of the experimental data can be achieved only if the models are supplemented with additional dynamical ingredients: subtle traces of suppressed degrees of freedom, effectively introduced by means of genuine three-nucleon forces and effects of the Coulomb force. As an example of precision studies of 3N system dynamics, new generation measurements of the 1H(d→,pp) n breakup reaction at 130 MeV are considered. Large sets of high accuracy, exclusive cross-section and analyzing power data acquired in these projects contribute significantly to constrain the physical assumptions underlying the theoretical interaction models. Comparisons of the cross-section data with the predictions using nuclear interactions generated in various ways, allowed to establish importance of including both, the 3N and the Coulomb forces to strongly improve description of the whole data set. Discrepancies observed in reproducing the analyzing power data hint at still persisting incompleteness of modeling the 3N system interaction dynamics

Measurement of the CP -even fraction of D0 →π+π-π+π-

A measurement of the CP-even fraction of the decay D0→π+π-π+π- is performed with a quantum-correlated ψ(3770)→DD¯ data sample collected by the BESIII experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.93 fb-1. Using a combination of CP eigenstates, D→π+π-π0 and D→KS,L0π+π- as tagging modes, the CP-even fraction is measured to be F+4π=0.735±0.015±0.005, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. This is the most precise determination of this quantity to date. It provides valuable model-independent input for the measurement of the angle γ of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix with B±→DK± decays, and for time-dependent studies of CP violation and mixing in the D0-D¯0 system