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Modern Rutherford Experiment: Tunneling of the Most Neutron-Rich Nucleus

A. Lemasson, A. Shrivastava, A. Navin, M. Rejmund, N. Keeley, V. Zelevinsky, S. Bhattacharyya, A. Chatterjee, G. de France, B. Jacquot, V. Nanal, R. G. Pillay, R. Raabe, and C. Schmitt
Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 232701 – Published 30 November 2009
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Abstract

A modern variation of the Rutherford experiment to probe the tunneling of exotic nuclear matter from the measurement of the residues formed in the bombardment of Au197 by extremely neutron-rich He8 nuclei is presented. Using a novel off-beam technique the most precise and accurate measurements of fusion and neutron transfer involving reaccelerated unstable beams are reported. The results show unusual behavior of the tunneling of He8 compared to that for lighter helium isotopes, highlighting the role of the intrinsic structure of composite many-body quantum systems and pairing correlations.

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  • Received 15 September 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.232701

©2009 American Physical Society

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A 21st century Rutherford experiment

Published 30 November 2009

Collisions of neutron-rich helium nuclei with gold targets show how the internal arrangement of nucleons influences nuclear fusion reaction mechanisms.

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Authors & Affiliations

A. Lemasson1, A. Shrivastava1,2, A. Navin1,*, M. Rejmund1, N. Keeley3, V. Zelevinsky4, S. Bhattacharyya5, A. Chatterjee2, G. de France1, B. Jacquot1, V. Nanal6, R. G. Pillay6, R. Raabe1, and C. Schmitt1

  • 1GANIL, CEA/DSM-CNRS/IN2P3, Bd Henri Becquerel, BP 55027, F-14076 Caen Cedex 5, France
  • 2Nuclear Physics Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai 400085, India
  • 3Department of Nuclear Reactions, The Andrzej Sołtan Institute for Nuclear Studies, ul. Hoża 69, PL-00-681 Warsaw, Poland
  • 4NSCL and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824-1321, USA
  • 5Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, 1/AF Bidhan Nagar, Kolkata 700064, India
  • 6Department of Nuclear and Atomic Physics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai 400005, India

  • *Corresponding author: navin@ganil.fr

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Issue

Vol. 103, Iss. 23 — 4 December 2009

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