An improved upper limit on the direct 3 α decay of the Hoyle state

Jack Bishop*, Robin Smith, Tzany Kokalova, Carl Wheldon, Neil Curtis, Martin Freer, David Parker

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

1 Citation (Scopus)
105 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The structure of the Hoyle state, a near-threshold 0+ state of extreme astrophysical significance in 12C has long been investigated. An experiment was performed to measure the branching ratio for the decay of this state directly into 3 α-particles. Such a branching ratio is expected to be a good observable for whether the resonance can be described as a dilute gas of α- particles known as an α-condensate. This experiment gave the best upper limits to date for this direct decay via the improvement of the traditionally used DDΦ model to isotropic decay to the available phase space. The new DDP2 model includes three-body penetrabilities and gives a limit of < 0.026% (95% C.L.), a factor of 5 improvement over the previous experimentally obtained limit.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 4th International Workshop on State of the Art in Nuclear Cluster Physics, SOTANCP 2018
EditorsMarina Barbui, Charles M. Folden III, Vladilen Z. Goldberg, Grigory V. Rogachev
PublisherAIP Publishing
Number of pages9
ISBN (Electronic)9780735417649
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 13 Nov 2018
Event4th International Workshop on State of the Art in Nuclear Cluster Physics, SOTANCP 2018 - Galveston, United States
Duration: 13 May 201818 May 2018

Publication series

NameAIP Conference Proceedings
PublisherAIP Publishing
Number1
Volume2038
ISSN (Print)0094-243X
ISSN (Electronic)1551-7616

Conference

Conference4th International Workshop on State of the Art in Nuclear Cluster Physics, SOTANCP 2018
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityGalveston
Period13/05/1818/05/18

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Physics and Astronomy(all)

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