Extreme alpha-clustering in the 18O nucleus

Abstract

The structure of the 18O nucleus at excitation energies above the alpha decay threshold was studied using 14C+alpha resonance elastic scattering. A number of states with large alpha reduced widths have been observed, indicating that the alpha-cluster degree of freedom plays an important role in this N not equal Z nucleus. However, the alpha-cluster structure of this nucleus is very different from the relatively simple pattern of strong alpha-cluster quasi-rotational bands in the neighboring 16O and 20Ne nuclei. A 0+ state with an alpha reduced width exceeding the single particle limit was identified at an excitation energy of 9.9+/-0.3 MeV. We discuss evidence that states of this kind are common in light nuclei and give possible explanations of this feature.

4 pages, 2 figures, 1 table. Resubmission with minor changes for clarity, including removal of one figure

References in corpus (2)

• Resonance states in 12C and alpha-particle condensation
• Exploring quantum dynamics in an open many-body system: Transition to superradiance

Cited by in corpus (11)

• Antisymmetrized molecular dynamics studies for exotic clustering phenomena in neutron-rich nuclei
• $\alpha$-cluster structure of ${}^{18}$O
• Probing astrophysically important states in ${}^{26}$Mg nucleus to study neutron sources for the $s$-Process
• Molecular Structures in T=1 states of 10B
• Approximation of reduced width amplitude and application to cluster decay width
• Alpha Conjugate Neck Structures in the Collisions of 35 MeV/nucleon 40Ca with 40Ca
• ${}^{10}$B+$\alpha$ states with chain-like structures in ${}^{14}$N
• Perspectives on few-body cluster structures in exotic nuclei
• Monopole and dipole transitions of the cluster states of 18O
• $\alpha$-cluster excited states in ${}^{32}$S
• Low-energy dipole excitation mode in ${}^{18}$O with antisymmetrized molecular dynamics