arXiv subjects

J. Zenihiro

Publications and source records attributed to J. Zenihiro.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Isoscalar Giant Resonances in the even-A Pd Isotopes

Studies of the isoscalar giant monopole resonance (ISGMR) across the chart of nuclides provide insight into the incompressibility of nuclear matter near saturation density, K(infinity). Such studies had revealed a discrepancy between theoretical approaches: quasiparticle random phase approximation (QRPA) derived from Skyrme interactions reproduce the strength distributions of the ISGMR in the doubly-closed-shell nuclei 90Zr and 208Pb, but their descriptions of strength distributions in open-shell medium-heavy nuclei suggest higher centroid energies should be experimentally observed. The latter nuclei required a smaller K(infinity) and were thus deemed softer. The present work serves to add to this softness discourse by extracting ISGMR strength distributions for 104,106,108,110Pd via 386-MeV inelastic alpha-scattering. The extracted giant resonance strength distributions are consistent with expectations in this isotopic range. Additional Quasiparticle Vibration Coupling (QPVC) effects are included with the QRPA approach and compared to aforementioned ISGMR strength distributions.

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arXiv2026

The dipole strength distribution of $^8$He and decay characteristics

The weak binding and spatially extended neutron densities characteristic of drip-line nuclei give rise to a distinctive low-energy dipole response. The drip-line nucleus $^8$He is the most neutron-rich bound nucleus with a mass-to-charge ratio of $A/Z=4$. We measure the dipole response of $^8$He, including for the first time the four-neutron decay channel. A total dipole strength of $\sum B(E1)(E^*<15$~MeV$)=0.95(16)~e^2$fm$^2$ and a dipole polarizability of $\alpha_D = 0.61(1)$~fm$^3$ are extracted from the differential Coulomb-excitation cross section and compared to state-of-the-art theoretical calculations employing coupled cluster and three-body approaches. We find that the dipole continuum is dominated, even at high excitation energies well above the $4n$ decay threshold, by two-neutron emission, pointing to a $^6$He$+2n$ structure of the excited dipole mode. No indication was found for a $4n$ final-state correlation, while pronounced $nn$ and $^6$He-$n$ final-state correlations are apparent.

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arXiv2026

First Extraction of the Matter Radius of $^{132}$Sn via Proton Elastic Scattering at 200 MeV/Nucleon

The angular distribution of the differential cross sections for proton elastic scattering from $^{132}$Sn at 196-210 MeV/nucleon was successfully measured over a momentum transfer range of 0.80 to 2.1 fm$^{-1}$. Using a relativistic impulse approximation, the root-mean-square matter radius of $^{132}$Sn was extracted to be $4.758^{+0.023}_{-0.024}$ fm, which was compared with the state-of-the-art ab initio calculations. Combined with the charge radius measured at ISOLDE, there are no theoretical calculations consistent with both matter and charge radii within the experimental errors.

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arXiv2026

Observation of a broad $p$-wave resonant state in $^{9}$He

We report on the two-body invariant-mass spectroscopy of $^{9}$He, populated via the 1$p$1$n$ knockout reaction from the two-neutron halo nucleus $^{11}$Li at $\sim$250 MeV/nucleon. A broad $p$-wave resonant state of $^{9}$He was observed at 1.28(1) MeV with a width of 0.82(4) MeV.

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arXiv2025

Investigation of Direct Nuclear Reactions in a Storage Ring Using In-Ring Detection

\textbf{Background:} Experiments involving nuclear reactions in a storage ring offer exceptional possibilities for precise measurements in inverse kinematics. These experiments provide excellent angular and energy resolution by particle spectroscopy, in addition to high luminosities. However, the extremely low-pressure environment maintained in the storage rings poses significant difficulties for experiments employing detectors or any outgassing material in the ring. \textbf{Purpose:} To investigate nuclear reactions in inverse kinematics using the storage-ring technique. The reactions were induced by scattering of a ${}^{20}\mathrm{Ne}$ beam off a hydrogen target at an energy of 50~MeV/u. \textbf{Method:} A beam of fully stripped ${}^{20}$Ne ions was injected into the ESR storage ring at an energy of 50 MeV/u. The beam interacted with an internal hydrogen gas-jet target. An ultra-high vacuum compatible detector setup was installed around the gas jet inside the ring to measure the recoiling particles generated by nuclear reactions. \textbf{Results:} Multiple reaction channels were observed during the experiment. In particular, we present the results from studies on elastic and inelastic scattering, as well as the neutron transfer reaction ${}^{20}\mathrm{Ne}(p,d){}^{19}\mathrm{Ne}^*$. The experimental data were compared to calculations that took into account the most significant excited states, using a coupled-reaction channel approach. A very good agreement with the experimental data was achieved. \textbf{Conclusions:} The present results are the first demonstration of the investigation transfer reactions using detectors directly installed in the ring. This provides an important proof-of-principle for prospective studies with far-from-stability radioactive beams in the future.

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arXiv2025

Evolution of two-neutrons configuration from 11Li to 13Li

In this work we investigate the two-neutron decay of 13Li and of the excited states of 11Li populated via one-proton removal from 14Be and 12Be, respectively. A phenomenological model is used to describe the decay of 11Li and 13Li. While the first one displays important sequential components, the second one appears dominated by the direct two-neutron decay. A microscopic three-body model is used to extract information on the spatial configuration of the emitted neutrons before the decay and shows that the average distance between the neutrons increases going from 11Li to 13Li.

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arXiv2024

Mass, spectroscopy and two-neutron decay of $^{16}$Be

The structure and decay of the most neutron-rich beryllium isotope, $^{16}$Be, has been investigated following proton knockout from a high-energy $^{17}$B beam. Two relatively narrow resonances were observed for the first time, with energies of $0.84(3)$ and $2.15(5)$ MeV above the two-neutron decay threshold and widths of $0.32(8)$ and $0.95(15)$ MeV respectively. These were assigned to be the ground ($J^π=0^+$) and first excited ($2^+$) state, with $E_x=1.31(6)$ MeV. The mass excess of $^{16}$Be was thus deduced to be $56.93(13)$ MeV, some $0.5$ MeV more bound than the only previous measurement. Both states were observed to decay by direct two-neutron emission. Calculations incorporating the evolution of the wavefunction during the decay as a genuine three-body process reproduced the principal characteristics of the neutron-neutron energy spectra for both levels, indicating that the ground state exhibits a strong spatially compact dineutron component, while the 2$^+$ level presents a far more diffuse neutron-neutron distribution.

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arXiv2023

Search for the 6$α$ condensed state in $^{24}$Mg using the $^{12}\rm{C}+{}^{12}\rm{C}$ scattering

We searched for the 6$α$-condensed state in $^{24}$Mg by measuring the $^{12}\rm{C}+{}^{12}\rm{C}$ scattering with the SAKRA Si detector array at $E_\rm{cm}$ = 17.5-25.0 MeV. By using the invariant-mass method for the detected 3$α$ particles, the inclusive cross sections for the $^{12}\rm{C}+{}^{12}\rm{C}\to{}^{12}\rm{C}(0^+_2)+X$ and $^{12}\rm{C}(3^-_1)+X$ reactions were determined. In addition, the missing-mass spectroscopy was successfully utilized to determine the excitation energy of the residual $^{12}\rm{C}$ nucleus and the exclusive cross sections for the $^{12}\rm{C}+{}^{12}\rm{C}\to{}^{12}\rm{C}(0^+_2)+{}^{12}\rm{C}(0^+_1)$, $^{12}\rm{C}(0^+_2)+{}^{12}\rm{C}(2^+_1)$, and $^{12}\rm{C}(0^+_2)+{}^{12}\rm{C}(0^+_2)$ reactions. In both the inclusive $^{12}\rm{C}(0^+_2)+X$ channel and the exclusive $^{12}\rm{C}(0^+_2)+{}^{12}\rm{C}(0^+_1)$ channel, the cross section peaked at $E_rm{cm}$ = 19.4 MeV, which correspond to the excitation energy of $E_x$ = 33.3 MeV in $^{24}\rm{Mg}$. This 19.4-MeV state is a candidate for the 6$α$-condensed state because of the agreement of the excitation energy with the theoretical value and its decay property. In the exclusive $^{12}\rm{C}(0^+_2)+{}^{12}\rm{C}(0^+_2)$ channel, a broad state was observed at $E_\rm{cm}$ = 22.5 MeV, which correspond to the excitation energy of $E_x$ = 36.4 MeV in $^{24}\rm{Mg}$. From the angular distribution of the differential cross section, the spin and parity of this 22.5-MeV state was assigned to be $4^+$. In addition, a $2^+$ state was suggested at the low-energy side of the 22.5-MeV state. Because their excitation energies are higher than the theoretical value of the 6$α$-condensed state, these states might be excited states of the 6$α$-condensed state such as the $2^+_2$ and $4^+_1$ states in $^{12}\rm{C}$.

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arXiv2023

Validation of the $^{10}\mathrm{Be}$ Ground-State Molecular Structure Using $^{10}\mathrm{Be}(p,pα)^{6}\mathrm{He}$ Triple Differential Reaction Cross-Section Measurements

The cluster structure of the neutron-rich isotope $^{10}$Be has been probed via the $(p,pα)$ reaction at 150 MeV/nucleon in inverse kinematics and in quasifree conditions. The populated states of $^{6}$He residues were investigated through missing mass spectroscopy. The triple differential cross-section for the ground-state transition was extracted for quasifree angle pairs ($θ_{p}$, $θ_α$) and compared to distorted-wave impulse approximation reaction calculations performed in a microscopic framework using successively the Tohsaki-Horiuchi-Schuck-Röpke product wave-function and the wave-function deduced from Antisymmetrized Molecular Dynamics calculations. The remarkable agreement between calculated and measured cross-sections in both shape and magnitude validates the molecular structure description of the $^{10}$Be ground-state, configured as an $α$-$α$ core with two valence neutrons occupying $π$-type molecular orbitals.

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arXiv2023

Silicon tracker array for RIB experiments at SAMURAI

This work describes a silicon tracker system developed for experiments with proton-rich radioactive ion beams at the SAMURAI superconducting spectrometer of RIBF at RIKEN. The system is designed for accurate angular reconstruction and atomic number identification of relativistic heavy ions and protons which are simultaneously produced in reactions motivated by studies of proton capture reactions of interest for nuclear astrophysics. The technical characteristics of the tracking array are described in detail as are its performance in two pilot experiments. The physics justification for such a system is also presented.

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arXiv2023

Searching for universality of dineutron correlation at the surface of Borromean nuclei

The dineutron correlation is systematically studied in three different Borromean nuclei near the neutron dripline, 11Li, 14Be and 17B, via the (p, pn) knockout reaction measured at the RIBF facility in RIKEN. For the three nuclei, the correlation angle between the valence neutrons is found to be largest in the same range of intrinsic momenta, which can be associated to the nuclear surface. This result reinforces the prediction that the formation of the dineutron is universal in environments with low neutron density, such as the surface of neutron-rich Borromean nuclei.

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arXiv2023

Multiple Mechanisms in Proton-Induced Nucleon Removal at $\sim$100 MeV/Nucleon

We report on the first proton-induced single proton- and neutron-removal reactions from the neutron-deficient $^{14}$O nucleus with large Fermi-surface asymmetry $S_n-S_p$ = 18.6 MeV at $\sim$100 MeV/nucleon, a widely used energy regime for rare-isotope studies. The measured inclusive cross sections and parallel momentum distributions of the $^{13}$N and $^{13}$O residues are compared to the state-of-the-art reaction models, with nuclear structure inputs from many-body shell-model calculations. Our results provide the first quantitative contributions of multiple reaction mechanisms including the quasifree knockout, inelastic scattering and nucleon transfer processes. It is shown that the inelastic scattering and nucleon transfer, usually neglected at such energy regime, contribute about 50% and 30% to the loosely bound proton and deeply bound neutron removal, respectively. These multiple reaction mechanisms should be considered in analyses of inclusive one-nucleon removal cross sections measured at intermediate energies for quantitative investigation of single-particle strengths and correlations in atomic nuclei.

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arXiv2022

Isovector density and isospin impurity in $^{40} \mathrm{Ca}$

We study isoscalar (IS) and isovector (IV) densities in ${}^{40} \mathrm{Ca}$ in comparison with theoretical densities calculated by Skyrme Hartree-Fock (HF) models. The charge symmetry breaking and the charge independence breaking forces are introduced to study the effect on the IV density. The effect of isospin mixing in the ground-state density is examined by using the particle-vibration coupling model taking into account the collective IV giant monopole excitation. We show a clear correlations in the IV density and isospin impurity of ${}^{40} \mathrm{Ca}$ within the HF and the particle-vibration coupling model. We extract for the first time the experimental information of isospin impurity from the magnitude of IV density.

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arXiv2021

Quasi-free Neutron Knockout Reaction Reveals a Small $s$-orbital Component in the Borromean Nucleus $^{17}$B

A kinematically complete quasi-free $(p,pn)$ experiment in inverse kinematics was performed to study the structure of the Borromean nucleus $^{17}$B, which had long been considered to have neutron halo. By analyzing the momentum distributions and exclusive cross sections, we obtained the spectroscopic factors for $1s_{1/2}$ and $0d_{5/2}$ orbitals, and a surprisingly small percentage of 9(2)$\%$ was determined for $1s_{1/2}$. Our finding of such a small $1s_{1/2}$ component and the halo features reported in prior experiments can be explained by the deformed relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov theory in continuum, revealing a definite but not dominant neutron halo in $^{17}$B. The present work gives the smallest $s$- or $p$-orbital component among known nuclei exhibiting halo features, and implies that the dominant occupation of $s$ or $p$ orbitals is not a prerequisite for the occurrence of neutron halo.

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arXiv2020

Surface localization of the dineutron in $^{11}$Li

The formation of a dineutron in the nucleus $^{11}$Li is found to be localized to the surface region. The experiment measured the intrinsic momentum of the struck neutron in $^{11}$Li via the $(p,pn)$ knockout reaction at 246 MeV/nucleon. The correlation angle between the two neutrons is, for the first time, measured as a function of the intrinsic neutron momentum. A comparison with reaction calculations reveals the localization of the dineutron at $r\sim3.6$ fm. The results also support the density dependence of dineutron formation as deduced from Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov calculations for nuclear matter.

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arXiv2020

Parity-transfer $({}^{16}{\rm O},{}^{16}{\rm F}(0^-,{\rm g.s.}))$ reaction as a selective probe of isovector $0^-$ states in nuclei

We demonstrate that the parity-transfer $({}^{16}{\rm O},{}^{16}{\rm F}(0^-,{\rm g.s.}))$ reaction provides a selective probe of isovector $0^-$ excitations in nuclei. This reaction selectively populates unnatural-parity states through a $0^+ \to 0^-$ transition in the projectile. The excitation-energy spectrum of $^{12}\mathrm{B}$ was reconstructed via the ${}^{12}{\rm C}({}^{16}{\rm O},{}^{16}{\rm F}(0^-,{\rm g.s.}))$ reaction at 247~MeV/u from the coincident detection of the ${}^{15}\mathrm{O}+p$ decay products of ${}^{16}\mathrm{F}$. The known $0^{-}$ state at $E_x = 9.3~{\rm MeV}$ was clearly observed with an enhanced forward cross section, confirming the selectivity of the reaction. Structures observed at $E_x = 6.6 \pm 0.4$ and $14.8 \pm 0.3~{\rm MeV}$ exhibit forward-peaked angular distributions and are suggested to contain significant $0^-$ strength. These results demonstrate that the parity-transfer reaction provides a powerful probe of $0^-$ excitations and highlight its potential for systematic studies of spin-isospin modes, including pion-related dynamics, in nuclei.

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arXiv2019

Structure of 13Be probed via quasi-free scattering

We present an investigation of the structure of 13Be obtained via a kinematically complete measurement of the (p; pn) reaction in inverse kinematics at 265 MeV/nucleon. The relative energy spectrum of 13Be is compared to Transfer-to-the-Continuum calculations which use as structure inputs the overlaps of the 14Be ground-state wave function, computed in a three-body model, with the unbound states of the 13Be residual nucleus. The key role of neutron p-wave orbital in the interpretation of the low-relative-energy part of the spectrum is discussed.

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arXiv2019

Study of multi-neutron systems with SAMURAI spectrometer

The tetraneutron has been drawing the attention of the nuclear physics community for decades, but a firm conclusion on its existence and properties is still far from being reached despite many experimental and theoretical efforts. New measurements have recently been performed at RIBF with the SAMURAI spectrometer by applying complementary reaction probes, which will help to pin down the properties of this four-neutron system.

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