B. Luther

Evidence for the ground-state resonance of 26O.

Evidence for the ground state of the neutron-unbound nucleus (26)O was observed for the first time in the single proton-knockout reaction from a 82 MeV/u (27)F beam. Neutrons were measured in coincidence with (24)O fragments. (26)O was determined to be unbound by 150(-150)(+50) keV from the observation of low-energy neutrons. This result agrees with recent shell-model calculations based on microscopic two- and three-nucleon forces.

Study of Two-Neutron Radioactivity in the Decay of 26O

A new technique was developed to measure the lifetimes of neutron unbound nuclei in the picosecond range. The decay of 26O→24O+n+n was examined as it had been predicted to have an appreciable lifetime due to the unique structure of the neutron-rich oxygen isotopes. The half-life of 26O was extracted as 4.5(-1.5)(+1.1)(stat)±3(syst)  ps. This corresponds to 26O having a finite lifetime at an 82% confidence level and, thus, suggests the possibility of two-neutron radioactivity.

Search for 21C and constraints on 22C

A search for the neutron-unbound nucleus

Search for

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C was performed via the single proton removal reaction from a beam of 22 N at 68 MeV/u. Neutrons were detected with the Modular Neutron Array (MoNA) in coincidence with

C and constraints on

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C fragments. No evidence for a low-lying state was found, and the reconstructed

C

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Three-body correlations in the ground-state decay of 26 O

C+n decay energy spectrum could be described with an s-wave line shape with a scattering length limit of |as| < 2.8 fm, consistent with shell model predictions. A comparison with a renormalized zero-range three-body model suggests that

INPOL – the Indiana University Neutron Polarimeter☆

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