J. Manfredi

Democratic Decay of 6Be Exposed by Correlations

The interaction of an E/A=70-MeV (7)Be beam with a Be target was used to populate levels in (6)Be following neutron knockout reactions. The three-body decay of the ground and first excited states into the α+p+p exit channel were detected in the High Resolution Array. Precise three-body correlations extracted from the experimental data allowed us to obtain insight into the mechanism of the three-body democratic decay. The correlation data are in good agreement with a three-cluster-model calculation and thus validate this theoretical approach over a broad energy range.

Democratic Decay ofBe6Exposed by Correlations

The interaction of an E/A=70-MeV (7)Be beam with a Be target was used to populate levels in (6)Be following neutron knockout reactions. The three-body decay of the ground and first excited states into the α+p+p exit channel were detected in the High Resolution Array. Precise three-body correlations extracted from the experimental data allowed us to obtain insight into the mechanism of the three-body democratic decay. The correlation data are in good agreement with a three-cluster-model calculation and thus validate this theoretical approach over a broad energy range.

Two-proton decay of the 6Be ground state and the double isobaric analog of 11Li

Two-proton decay is discussed in a number of light isobaric multiplets. For the lightest two-proton emitter, 6Be, the momentum correlations between the three decay products were measured and found to be consistent with quantum-mechanical three-cluster-model calculations. Two-proton decay was also found for two members of the A=8 and A=11 quintets. Finally, a third member of the A=11 sextet, the double isobaric analog of the halo nucleus 11Li in 11B was observed by its two-proton decay.

2p-2p decay of {sup 8}C and isospin-allowed 2p decay of the isobaric-analog state in {sup 8}B

8 C is found to decay to four protons and an α particle in two 2p emission steps. The correlations between the protons in the first step ( 8 C to 6 Be) exhibit a significant enhancement in the region of the decay phase space where the two protons have small relative energy, a region sometimes called the diproton region. The decay of the isobaric analog of 8 C in 8 B is also found to decay by 2p emission. This is the first case of isospin-allowed 2p decay between isobaric analog states.