Study of Two-Neutron Radioactivity in the Decay of O-26

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-7-2013

Publication Source

Physical Review Letters

Volume Number

110

Issue Number

15

First Page

152501-1

Last Page

152501-5

Publisher

American Physical Society

ISSN

0031-9007

Comments

© 2013 American Physical Society

Abstract

A new technique was developed to measure the lifetimes of neutron unbound nuclei in the picosecond range. The decay of 26O→24O+n+n was examined as it had been predicted to have an appreciable lifetime due to the unique structure of the neutron-rich oxygen isotopes. The half-life of 26O was extracted as 4.5-1.5+1.1(stat)±3(syst)  ps. This corresponds to 26O having a finite lifetime at an 82% confidence level and, thus, suggests the possibility of two-neutron radioactivity.

Keywords

Excited Nuclear-States, Shell-Model, Drip Lines, Stability, Isotopes, Proton, Lifetimes, Limits, Li-11

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