First Observation of Ground State Dineutron Decay: Be-16

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-9-2012

Publication Source

Physical Review Letters

Volume Number

108

Issue Number

10

Publisher

American Physical Society

ISSN

0031-9007

Abstract

We report on the first observation of dineutron emission in the decay of Be-16. A single-proton knockout reaction from a 53 MeV/u B-17 beam was used to populate the ground state of Be-16. Be-16 is bound with respect to the emission of one neutron and unbound to two-neutron emission. The dineutron character of the decay is evidenced by a small emission angle between the two neutrons. The two-neutron separation energy of Be-16 was measured to be 1.35(10) MeV, in good agreement with shell model calculations, using standard interactions for this mass region.

Keywords

Neutron-rich nuclei, Exotic nuclei, Radioactivity, Isotopes

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