Many neutron star properties, such as the proton fraction, reflect the symmetry energy contributions to the equation of state that dominate when neutron and proton densities differ strongly. To ...constrain these contributions at suprasaturation densities, we measure the spectra of charged pions produced by colliding rare isotope tin (Sn) beams with isotopically enriched Sn targets. Using ratios of the charged pion spectra measured at high transverse momenta, we deduce the slope of the symmetry energy to be 42<L<117 MeV. This value is slightly lower but consistent with the L values deduced from a recent measurement of the neutron skin thickness of ^{208}Pb.
Abstract
A long-standing question in nuclear physics is whether chargeless nuclear systems can exist. To our knowledge, only neutron stars represent near-pure neutron systems, where neutrons are ...squeezed together by the gravitational force to very high densities. The experimental search for isolated multi-neutron systems has been an ongoing quest for several decades
1
, with a particular focus on the four-neutron system called the tetraneutron, resulting in only a few indications of its existence so far
2–4
, leaving the tetraneutron an elusive nuclear system for six decades. Here we report on the observation of a resonance-like structure near threshold in the four-neutron system that is consistent with a quasi-bound tetraneutron state existing for a very short time. The measured energy and width of this state provide a key benchmark for our understanding of the nuclear force. The use of an experimental approach based on a knockout reaction at large momentum transfer with a radioactive high-energy
8
He beam was key.
SAMURAI spectrometer for RI beam experiments Kobayashi, T.; Chiga, N.; Isobe, T. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section B, Beam interactions with materials and atoms,
12/2013, Letnik:
317
Journal Article
Recenzirano
A large-acceptance multiparticle spectrometer SAMURAI has been constructed at the RIKEN RI Beam Factory (RIBF) for RI beam experiments. It was designed primarily for kinematically complete ...experiments such as the invariant-mass spectroscopy of particle-unbound states in exotic nuclei, by detecting heavy fragments and projectile-rapidity nucleons in coincidence. The system consists of a superconducting dipole magnet, beam line detectors, heavy fragment detectors, neutron detectors, and proton detectors. The SAMURAI spectrometer was commissioned in March 2012, and a rigidity resolution of about 1/1500 was obtained for RI beams up to 2.4GeV/c.
The differential cross sections of the Σ^{-}p→Λn reaction were measured accurately for the Σ^{-} momentum (p_{Σ}) ranging from 470 to 650 MeV/c at the J-PARC Hadron Experimental Facility. Precise ...angular information about the Σ^{-}p→Λn reaction was obtained for the first time by detecting approximately 100 reaction events at each angular step of Δcosθ=0.1. The obtained differential cross sections show a slightly forward-peaking structure in the measured momentum regions. The cross sections integrated for -0.7≤cosθ≤1.0 were obtained as 22.5±0.68 statistical error(stat.) ±0.65 systematic error(syst.) mb and 15.8±0.83(stat)±0.52(syst) mb for 470<p_{Σ}(MeV/c)<550 and 550<p_{Σ}(MeV/c)<650, respectively. These results show a drastic improvement compared with past measurements of the hyperon-proton scattering experiments. They will play essential roles in updating the theoretical models of the baryon-baryon interactions.
The one-neutron knockout from 52Ca in inverse kinematics onto a proton target was performed at ∼230 MeV/nucleon combined with prompt γ spectroscopy. Exclusive quasifree scattering cross sections to ...bound states in 51Ca and the momentum distributions corresponding to the removal of 1f7/2 and 2p3/2 neutrons were measured. The cross sections, interpreted within the distorted-wave impulse approximation reaction framework, are consistent with a shell closure at the neutron number N=32, found as strong as at N=28 and N=34 in Ca isotopes from the same observables. The analysis of the momentum distributions leads to a difference of the root-mean-square radii of the neutron 1f7/2 and 2p3/2 orbitals of 0.61(23) fm, in agreement with the modified-shell-model prediction of 0.7 fm suggesting that the large root-mean-square radius of the 2p3/2 orbital in neutron-rich Ca isotopes is responsible for the unexpected linear increase of the charge radius with the neutron number.
In this study, we developed a new proton detector system called CATCH, which was designed for a scattering experiment involving a Σ hyperon and a proton (J-PARC E40). CATCH is a cylindrical detector ...system covering an inner target that can be used to measure the trajectory and energy of a proton emitted from the target for the kinematic identification of a Σp scattering event. It comprises a cylindrical fiber tracker (CFT), a bismuth germanate (BGO) calorimeter, and a plastic scintillator hodoscope (PiID), which are coaxially arranged from the inner to the outer sides. The CFT is a tracking detector consisting of 5,000 scintillation fibers, and it has two types of cylindrical layers in which the fibers are arranged in straight and spiral configurations. 24 BGO crystals are placed around the CFT to measure the kinetic energy of the recoil proton. The PiID is used to determine whether the recoil proton is stopped in the BGO calorimeter . We performed proton–proton (pp) and proton–carbon (pC) scattering experiments using an 80 MeV proton beam to evaluate the performance of CATCH. The total energy resolution for the recoil proton was 2.8 MeV in σ for the entire angular region after the energy calibrations of the BGO calorimeter and the CFT. The angular resolution of the CFT was 1.27 degrees in σ for the proton, and the time resolution was more than 1.8 ns in σ. We also developed an analysis method for deriving the cross section of the pp scattering using CATCH. The obtained relative differential cross section for the pp elastic scattering was consistent with that obtained by reliable partial wave analysis, and the systematic error was maintained at below 10%. These performance results satisfy our requirements for a reliable detection system for the Σp scattering experiment conducted at J-PARC.
γ emission probabilities from unbound states in 78,80Se, populated by a neutron-transfer reaction (d,p) on 77,79Se nuclei in inverse kinematics, were measured by directly detecting reaction residues. ...Assuming the spin distribution at the respective excitation energy of the unbound state, the cross-sections of the 79Se(n,γ)80Se reaction were evaluated using the γ emission probabilities. The surrogate-ratio method with the experimental γ emission probabilities of 78,80Se was also employed to deduce the cross-sections of 79Se(n,γ) reaction by incorporating the theoretical evaluations of the neutron-capture reaction on the isomeric state in 77Se. Our two cross-sections are in good agreement with existing nuclear data compilations for the neutron-capture reaction on 79Se. The presented method contributes to the body of existing knowledge by providing approaches for determining the neutron capture cross-sections of radioactive nuclei at various neutron energies.
Properties of the nuclear equation of state (EoS) can be probed by measuring the dynamical properties of nucleus-nucleus collisions. In this study, we present the directed flow (v1), elliptic flow ...(v2) and stopping (VarXZ) measured in fixed target Sn + Sn collisions at ▪ with the SπRIT Time Projection Chamber. We perform Bayesian analyses in which EoS parameters are varied simultaneously within the Improved Quantum Molecular Dynamics-Skyrme (ImQMD-Sky) transport code to obtain a multivariate correlated constraint. The varied parameters include symmetry energy, S0, and slope of the symmetry energy, L, at saturation density, isoscalar effective mass, ms⁎/mN, isovector effective mass, mv⁎/mN and the in-medium cross-section enhancement factor η. We find that the flow and VarXZ observables are sensitive to the splitting of proton and neutron effective masses and the in-medium cross-section. Comparisons of ImQMD-Sky predictions to the SπRIT data suggest a narrow range of preferred values for ms⁎/mN, mv⁎/mN and η.
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