Clarification of the low-lying states of Be-9

5 pages, 1 table, 2 figures.-- Presented at the International Conference on Finite Fermionic Systems: Nilsson Model 50 years (Lund University, Sweden, June 14–18, 2005).-- PACS nrs.: 23.40.Hc, 27.20.+n, 24.80.+y.A newly developed technique for dealing with three-body decays of broad isolated levels is extended to deal with the broad, overlapping levels found at 2-9 MeV excitation energy in Be-9. The levels are populated through beta-decay of Li-9. The method gives firm evidence for the existence of several levels. Angular correlation studies allow spin values to be assigned.Peer reviewe

Anatomy of three-body decay I. Schematic models

Sequential three-body decay proceeds via spatially confined quasi-stationary two-body configurations. Direct three-body decay populates the three-body continuum without intermediate steps. The relative importance of these decay modes is discussed in a schematic model employing only Coulomb or centrifugal barrier potentials. Decisive dimensionless charge, mass and energy ratios are derived. Sequential decay is usually favored for charged particles. Small charge and small mass of high energy is preferably emitted first. Without Coulomb potential the sequential decay is favored except when both resonance energy and intermediate two-body energy are large.Comment: To be published in Nuclear Physics

Three-body decays: structure, decay mechanism and fragment properties

We discuss the three-body decay mechanisms of many-body resonances. R-matrix sequential description is compared with full Faddeev computation. The role of the angular momentum and boson symmetries is also studied. As an illustration we show the computed $\alpha$-particle energy distribution after the decay of 12C(1^+) resonance at 12.7 MeV.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Proceedings of the workshop "Critical Stability of Few-Body Quantum Systems" 200

Anatomy of three-body decay III. Energy distributions

We address the problem of calculating momentum distributions of particles emerging from the three-body decay of a many-body resonance. We show that these distributions are determined by the asymptotics of the coordinate-space complex-energy wave-function of the resonance. We use the hyperspherical adiabatic expansion method where all lengths are proportional to the hyperradius. The structures of the resonances are related to different decay mechanisms. For direct decay all inter-particle distances increase proportional to the hyperradius at intermediate and large distances. Sequential three-body decay proceeds via spatially confined quasi-stationary two-body configurations. Then two particles remain close while the third moves away. The wave function may contain mixtures which produce coherence effects at small distances, but the energy distributions can still be added incoherently. Two-neutron halos are discussed in details and illustrated by the $2^+$ resonance in $^{6}$He. The dynamic evolution of the decay process is discussed.Comment: 30 pages, 8 figures, to be published in Nuclear Physics

Isospin mixing and energy distributions in three-body decay

The structure of the second 2$^+$ resonance in $^{6}$Li is investigated with special emphasis on its isospin 0 components. The wave functions are computed in a three-body model ($\alpha$+$n$+$p$) using the hyperspherical adiabatic expansion method combined with complex scaling. In the decay into three free particles the symmetry conserving short-range interaction dominates at short distance whereas the symmetry breaking Coulomb interaction dominates at intermediate and large distances resulting in substantial isospin mixing. We predict the mixing and the energy distributions of the fragments after decay. Computations are consistent with available experiments. We conjecture that nuclear three-body decays frequently produce such large isospin mixing at large distance where the energy distributions. are determined.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, to be published in Physics Letters

Evidence of a new state in 11^{11}Be observed in the 11^{11}Li β\beta-decay

Coincidences between charged particles emitted in the $\beta$-decay of $^{11}$Li were observed using highly segmented detectors. The breakup channels involving three particles were studied in full kinematics allowing for the reconstruction of the excitation energy of the $^{11}$Be states participating in the decay. In particular, the contribution of a previously unobserved state at 16.3 MeV in $^{11}$Be has been identified selecting the $\alpha$ + $^7$He$\to\alpha$ + $^6$He+n channel. The angular correlations between the $\alpha$ particle and the center of mass of the $^6$He+n system favors spin and parity assignment of 3/2$^-$ for this state as well as for the previously known state at 18 MeV.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure

Few-body decay and recombination in nuclear astrophysics

Three-body continuum problems are investigated for light nuclei of astrophysical relevance. We focus on three-body decays of resonances or recombination via resonances or the continuum background. The concepts of widths, decay mechanisms and dynamic evolution are discussed. We also discuss results for the triple $\alpha$ decay in connection with $2^+$ resonances and density and temperature dependence rates of recombination into light nuclei from $\alpha$-particles and neutrons.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures. Proceedings of the 21st European Few Body Conference held in Salamanca (Spain) in August-September 201

Beta-delayed proton emission from ²¹Mg

16 pags.; 9 figs.; 6 tabs.© 2015, SIF, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. Beta-delayed proton emission from 21Mg has been measured at ISOLDE, CERN, with a detection setup consisting of two charged-particle telescopes surrounding the decay point. Altogether 27 βp branches were measured with center-of-mass energies between 0.4–7.2 MeV. Seven new βp branches were observed. Beta-delayed protons were used to determine the half-life of 21Mg as 118.6 ± 0.5 ms. From a line shape fit of the βp branches we extract the widths, spins, and parities of the resonances of 21Na. An improved interpretation of the decay scheme in accordance with the results obtained in reaction studies is presented.This work has been supported by the European Commision within the Seventh Framework Programme “European Nuclear Science and Applications Research”, contract no. 262010 (ENSAR), and by the Spanish research agency under number FPA2012-32443.Peer Reviewe

Study of beta-delayed 3-body and 5-body breakup channels observed in the decay of ^11Li

The beta-delayed charged particle emission from ^11Li has been studied with emphasis on the three-body n+alpha+^6He and five-body 2alpha+3n channels from the 10.59 and 18.15 MeV states in ^11Be. Monte Carlo simulations using an R-matrix formalism lead to the conclusion that the ^AHe resonance states play a significant role in the break-up of these states. The results exclude an earlier assumption of a phase-space description of the break-up process of the 18.15 MeV state. Evidence for extra sequential decay paths is found for both states.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures. Submitted to Nuclear Physics