Formation of α clusters in dilute neutron-rich matter

Junki Tanaka; Zaihong Yang; Stefan Typel; Satoshi Adachi; Shiwei Bai; Patrik van Beek; Didier Beaumel; Yuki Fujikawa; Jiaxing Han; Sebastian Heil; Siwei Huang; Azusa Inoue; Ying Jiang; Marco Knösel; Nobuyuki Kobayashi; Yuki Kubota; Wei Liu; Jianling Lou; Yukie Maeda; Yohei Matsuda; Kenjiro Miki; Shoken Nakamura; Kazuyuki Ogata; Valerii Panin; Heiko Scheit; Fabia Schindler; Philipp Schrock; Dmytro Symochko; Atsushi Tamii; Tomohiro Uesaka; Vadim Wagner; Kazuki Yoshida; Juzo Zenihiro; Thomas Aumann

doi:10.1126/science.abe4688

Formation of α clusters in dilute neutron-rich matter

Junki Tanaka, Zaihong Yang, Stefan Typel, Satoshi Adachi, Shiwei Bai, Patrik van Beek, Didier Beaumel, Yuki Fujikawa, Jiaxing Han, Sebastian Heil, Siwei Huang, Azusa Inoue, Ying Jiang, Marco Knösel, Nobuyuki Kobayashi, Yuki Kubota, Wei Liu, Jianling Lou, Yukie Maeda, Yohei MatsudaKenjiro Miki, Shoken Nakamura, Kazuyuki Ogata, Valerii Panin, Heiko Scheit, Fabia Schindler, Philipp Schrock, Dmytro Symochko, Atsushi Tamii, Tomohiro Uesaka, Vadim Wagner, Kazuki Yoshida, Juzo Zenihiro, Thomas Aumann

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

42 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The surface of neutron-rich heavy nuclei, with a neutron skin created by excess neutrons, provides an important terrestrial model system to study dilute neutron-rich matter. By using quasi-free α cluster- knockout reactions, we obtained direct experimental evidence for the formation of α clusters at the surface of neutron-rich tin isotopes. The observed monotonous decrease of the reaction cross sections with increasing mass number, in excellent agreement with the theoretical prediction, implies a tight interplay between α-cluster formation and the neutron skin. This result, in turn, calls for a revision of the correlation between the neutron-skin thickness and the density dependence of the symmetry energy, which is essential for understanding neutron stars. Our result also provides a natural explanation for the origin of α particles in α decay.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	260-264
Number of pages	5
Journal	Science
Volume	371
Issue number	6526
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abe4688
Publication status	Published - 2021 Jan 15

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@article{8215519819f84b3985fca9c8ad7a1692,

title = "Formation of α clusters in dilute neutron-rich matter",

abstract = "The surface of neutron-rich heavy nuclei, with a neutron skin created by excess neutrons, provides an important terrestrial model system to study dilute neutron-rich matter. By using quasi-free α cluster- knockout reactions, we obtained direct experimental evidence for the formation of α clusters at the surface of neutron-rich tin isotopes. The observed monotonous decrease of the reaction cross sections with increasing mass number, in excellent agreement with the theoretical prediction, implies a tight interplay between α-cluster formation and the neutron skin. This result, in turn, calls for a revision of the correlation between the neutron-skin thickness and the density dependence of the symmetry energy, which is essential for understanding neutron stars. Our result also provides a natural explanation for the origin of α particles in α decay.",

author = "Junki Tanaka and Zaihong Yang and Stefan Typel and Satoshi Adachi and Shiwei Bai and {van Beek}, Patrik and Didier Beaumel and Yuki Fujikawa and Jiaxing Han and Sebastian Heil and Siwei Huang and Azusa Inoue and Ying Jiang and Marco Kn{\"o}sel and Nobuyuki Kobayashi and Yuki Kubota and Wei Liu and Jianling Lou and Yukie Maeda and Yohei Matsuda and Kenjiro Miki and Shoken Nakamura and Kazuyuki Ogata and Valerii Panin and Heiko Scheit and Fabia Schindler and Philipp Schrock and Dmytro Symochko and Atsushi Tamii and Tomohiro Uesaka and Vadim Wagner and Kazuki Yoshida and Juzo Zenihiro and Thomas Aumann",

note = "Funding Information: This work was partially supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) Project-ID 279384907 - SFB 1245, by the GSI-TU Darmstadt cooperation agreement, by the BMBF (project 05P19RDFN1), and in part by Grants-in-Aid of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (grant no. JP16K05352). Z.Y. acknowledges support from the Foreign Postdoctoral Researcher program of RIKEN. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 The Authors, some rights reserved.",

year = "2021",

month = jan,

day = "15",

doi = "10.1126/science.abe4688",

language = "English",

volume = "371",

pages = "260--264",

journal = "Science",

issn = "0036-8075",

publisher = "American Association for the Advancement of Science",

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Tanaka, J, Yang, Z, Typel, S, Adachi, S, Bai, S, van Beek, P, Beaumel, D, Fujikawa, Y, Han, J, Heil, S, Huang, S, Inoue, A, Jiang, Y, Knösel, M, Kobayashi, N, Kubota, Y, Liu, W, Lou, J, Maeda, Y, Matsuda, Y, Miki, K, Nakamura, S, Ogata, K, Panin, V, Scheit, H, Schindler, F, Schrock, P, Symochko, D, Tamii, A, Uesaka, T, Wagner, V, Yoshida, K, Zenihiro, J & Aumann, T 2021, 'Formation of α clusters in dilute neutron-rich matter', Science, vol. 371, no. 6526, pp. 260-264. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abe4688

TY - JOUR

T1 - Formation of α clusters in dilute neutron-rich matter

AU - Tanaka, Junki

AU - Yang, Zaihong

AU - Typel, Stefan

AU - Adachi, Satoshi

AU - Bai, Shiwei

AU - van Beek, Patrik

AU - Beaumel, Didier

AU - Fujikawa, Yuki

AU - Han, Jiaxing

AU - Heil, Sebastian

AU - Huang, Siwei

AU - Inoue, Azusa

AU - Jiang, Ying

AU - Knösel, Marco

AU - Kobayashi, Nobuyuki

AU - Kubota, Yuki

AU - Liu, Wei

AU - Lou, Jianling

AU - Maeda, Yukie

AU - Matsuda, Yohei

AU - Miki, Kenjiro

AU - Nakamura, Shoken

AU - Ogata, Kazuyuki

AU - Panin, Valerii

AU - Scheit, Heiko

AU - Schindler, Fabia

AU - Schrock, Philipp

AU - Symochko, Dmytro

AU - Tamii, Atsushi

AU - Uesaka, Tomohiro

AU - Wagner, Vadim

AU - Yoshida, Kazuki

AU - Zenihiro, Juzo

AU - Aumann, Thomas

N1 - Funding Information: This work was partially supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) Project-ID 279384907 - SFB 1245, by the GSI-TU Darmstadt cooperation agreement, by the BMBF (project 05P19RDFN1), and in part by Grants-in-Aid of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (grant no. JP16K05352). Z.Y. acknowledges support from the Foreign Postdoctoral Researcher program of RIKEN. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors, some rights reserved.

PY - 2021/1/15

Y1 - 2021/1/15

N2 - The surface of neutron-rich heavy nuclei, with a neutron skin created by excess neutrons, provides an important terrestrial model system to study dilute neutron-rich matter. By using quasi-free α cluster- knockout reactions, we obtained direct experimental evidence for the formation of α clusters at the surface of neutron-rich tin isotopes. The observed monotonous decrease of the reaction cross sections with increasing mass number, in excellent agreement with the theoretical prediction, implies a tight interplay between α-cluster formation and the neutron skin. This result, in turn, calls for a revision of the correlation between the neutron-skin thickness and the density dependence of the symmetry energy, which is essential for understanding neutron stars. Our result also provides a natural explanation for the origin of α particles in α decay.

AB - The surface of neutron-rich heavy nuclei, with a neutron skin created by excess neutrons, provides an important terrestrial model system to study dilute neutron-rich matter. By using quasi-free α cluster- knockout reactions, we obtained direct experimental evidence for the formation of α clusters at the surface of neutron-rich tin isotopes. The observed monotonous decrease of the reaction cross sections with increasing mass number, in excellent agreement with the theoretical prediction, implies a tight interplay between α-cluster formation and the neutron skin. This result, in turn, calls for a revision of the correlation between the neutron-skin thickness and the density dependence of the symmetry energy, which is essential for understanding neutron stars. Our result also provides a natural explanation for the origin of α particles in α decay.

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U2 - 10.1126/science.abe4688

DO - 10.1126/science.abe4688

M3 - Article

C2 - 33446551

AN - SCOPUS:85099985556

SN - 0036-8075

VL - 371

SP - 260

EP - 264

JO - Science

JF - Science

IS - 6526

ER -

Formation of α clusters in dilute neutron-rich matter

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