arXiv subjects

N. Keeley

Publications and source records attributed to N. Keeley.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

The role of the overlap function in describing angular distributions of single-nucleon transfer reactions

Single-nucleon transfer reactions offer a valuable way to probe nuclear structure. We explore the effect of directly introducing overlap functions computed using the Gamow shell model (GSM) into reaction calculations, taking the $\left< ^7\mathrm{Li} \mid \protect{^6\mathrm{He}} + p \right>$ single proton overlap as a case study. By incorporating both inter-nucleon correlations and continuum coupling, the GSM provides accurate overlap functions in both interior and asymptotic regions, together with the corresponding spectroscopic factors (SFs). These theoretical SFs and overlap functions were included in a coupled channels Born approximation analysis of the $^{6}{\rm He}(d,n)^7{\rm Li}$ transfer reaction. Overlap functions derived from \textit{ab initio} no-core shell model (NCSM) calculations as well as standard single-particle (s.p.) wave functions were also considered for comparison. Our results reveal significant differences between the calculated angular distributions when employing theoretical SFs with standard s.p.\ wave functions compared to the full theoretical overlap functions. Discrepancies were also observed between angular distributions calculated with GSM and NCSM overlap functions, highlighting the importance of internal structure and correct asymptotic behavior in reliable reaction calculations. The GSM overlap functions also provided a good description of the $^{208}$Pb($^7$Li,$^6$He)$^{209}$Bi reaction when included in a coupled reaction channels calculation.

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arXiv2025

Near-threshold dipole strength in {^{10}}Be with isoscalar character

Isoscalar dipole transitions are a distinctive fingerprint of cluster structures. A {1^-} resonance at 7.27(10) MeV, located just below the {\alpha}-emission threshold, has been observed in the deuteron inelastic scattering reactions off 10Be. The deformation lengths of the excited states in 10Be below 9 MeV have been inferred from the differential cross sections using coupled channel calculations. This observed {1^-} resonance has isoscalar characteristics and exhausts approximately 5{\%}-15{\%} of the isoscalar dipole energy-weighted sum rule, providing evidence for pronounced {\alpha} cluster structure in 10Be. The Gamow coupled channel approach supports this interpretation and suggests the near-threshold effect might be playing an important role in this excitation energy domain. The {\alpha}+{\alpha}+n+n four-body calculation reproduces the observed enhanced dipole strength, implying that the four-body cluster structure is essential to describe the {1^-} states in 10Be.

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arXiv2024

Mirror nucleon-transfer reactions from $^{18}$Ne and $^{18}$O

The $^{18}$Ne(d,t)$^{17}$Ne and $^{18}$Ne(d,$^3$He)$^{17}$F single-nucleon pickup reactions were measured at 16.5 MeV/nucleon in inverse kinematics together with elastic and inelastic scattering channels. The full set of measured exclusive differential cross sections was compared with the mirror reaction channels on stable $^{18}$O after consistent reanalysis using coupled reaction channels calculations. Within this interpretation scheme, most of the spectroscopic factors extracted for the population of unbound states in $^{17}$F match within uncertainties with their mirror partners in $^{17}$O. However, for the deeply-bound neutron removal channel to $^{17}$Ne, a significant symmetry breaking with the mirror proton-removal channel leading to $^{17}$N is evidenced by an overall single-particle strength reduction.

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arXiv2023

Simultaneous calculation of elastic scattering, fusion, and direct cross sections for reactions of weakly-bound projectiles

Simultaneous analyses are performed for cross section data of elastic scattering, fusion, Coulomb breakup, and other direct yields for the $^{6}$He+$^{209}$Bi system at near-Coulomb-barrier energies. The bare and dynamical polarization potentials are constructed microscopically from the structure of the colliding nuclei and they reproduce all the data well with only one adjustable parameter. This method of calculation can be successfully applied to the reactions of weakly-bound and exotic projectiles with heavy targets.

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arXiv2022

Calculation of Coulomb breakup cross sections using a new Coulomb dynamical polarization potential

A new method for calculating the Coulomb breakup of unstable neutron-rich isotopes at high energies is presented. The calculations employ the eikonal approximation and use a new Coulomb dynamical polarization potential (CDPP), calculated by solving the Schrödinger equation for the entire motion of the exotic projectile as a two-body cluster structure using the adiabatic approximation and incorporating excitations to the continuum. Calculations for some exotic isotopes are compared with Coulomb dissociation cross section data and found to be in good agreement.

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arXiv2021

Unraveling the reaction mechanism for large alpha production and incomplete fusion in reactions involving weakly bound stable nuclei

The origin of the large $α$ particle production and incomplete fusion in reactions involving weakly-bound $α$+$x$ cluster nuclei still remains unresolved. While the (two-step) process of breakup followed by capture of the ``free" complementary fragment ($x$) is widely believed to be responsible, a few recent studies suggest the dominant role of (direct) cluster stripping. To achieve an unambiguous experimental discrimination between these two processes, a coincidence measurement between the outgoing $α$ particles and $γ$ rays from the heavy residues has been performed for the $^7$Li($α$+triton)+$^{93}$Nb system. Proper choice of kinematical conditions allowed for the first time a significant population of the region accessible only to the direct triton stripping process and not to breakup followed by the capture of the ``free'' triton (from the three-body continuum). This result, also supported by a cluster-transfer calculation, clearly establishes the dominance of the direct cluster-stripping mechanism in the large alpha production.

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arXiv2021

Experimental study of the $^{17}$F+ $^{12}$C fusion reaction and its implications for fusion of proton-halo systems

The halo nature of the low-lying $1/2$+ first excited state of the exotic weakly-bound proton drip-line nucleus $^{17}$F has long been hypothesized. The structure of such a halo nucleus would imply special nuclear properties including, possibly, an enhancement in its fusion cross section above the barrier. The total fusion cross section of $^{17}$F + $^{12}$C near the Coulomb barrier was studied using the newly developed "Encore" active-target detector at Florida State University. Total fusion cross sections for the stable counterpart systems $^{16}$O + $^{12}$C and $^{19}$F + $^{12}$C were also measured to enable a systematic comparison. No influence of the halo nature of the $^{17}$F $1/2$+ first excited state on its fusion excitation function was observed when compared with the stable counterpart systems.

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arXiv2020

Important Influence of Entrance Channel Reorientation Coupling on Proton Stripping

While it is well established that the ground state reorientation coupling can have a significant influence on the elastic scattering of deformed nuclei, the effect of such couplings on transfer channels has been much less well investigated. In this letter we demonstrate that the 208Pb(7Li,6He)209Bi proton stripping reaction at an incident energy of 52 MeV can be well described by the inclusion of the 7Li ground state reorientation coupling within the coupled channels Born approximation formalism. Full finite-range distorted wave Born approximation calculations were previously found to be unable to describe these data. Addition of coupling to the 0.478-MeV 1/2- excited state of 7Li, together with the associated two-step transfer path, has little or no influence on the shape of the angular distributions (except that for stripping leading to the 1.61-MeV 13/2+ level of 209Bi which is significantly improved) but does affect appreciably the values of the 209Bi -> 208Pb + p spectroscopic factors. Implications for experiments with weakly-bound light radioactive beams are discussed.

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arXiv2020

Multi-neutron transfer in $^{8}$He induced reactions near the Coulomb barrier

The measured inclusive $^6$He and $^4$He production cross sections of G. Marqu{í}nez-Dur{á}n {\em et al.}, Phys.\ Rev.\ C {\bf 98}, 034615 (2018) are reexamined and the conclusions concerning the relative importance of 1n and 2n transfer to the production of $^6$He arising from the interaction of a 22 MeV $^8$He beam with a $^{208}$Pb target revised. A consideration of the kinematics of the 2n-stripping reaction when compared with the measured $^6$He total energy versus angle spectrum places strict limits on the allowed excitation energy of the $^{210}$Pb residual, so constraining distorted wave Born approximation calculations that the contribution of the 2n stripping process to the inclusive $^6$He production can only be relatively small. It is therefore concluded that the dominant $^6$He production mechanism must be 1n stripping followed by decay of the $^7$He ejectile. Based on this result we present strong arguments in favor of direct, one step four-neutron (4n) stripping as the main mechanism for $^4$He production.

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arXiv2020

Multi-step processes in heavy-ion induced single-nucleon transfer reactions

It was first noted during the 1970s that finite-range distorted wave Born approximation (FR-DWBA) calculations were unable satisfactorily to describe the shape of the angular distributions of many single-proton (and some single-neutron) transfer reactions induced by heavy ions, with calculations shifted to larger angles by up to ~ 4 degrees compared with the data. These reactions exhibited a significant mismatch, either of the reaction Q value or the grazing angular momentum of the entrance and exit channels, and it was speculated that the inclusion of multi-step transfer paths via excited state(s) of the projectile and/or ejectile could compensate for the effect of this mismatch and yield good descriptions of the data by shifting the calculated peaks to smaller angles. However, to date this has not been explicitly demonstrated for many reactions. In this work we show that inclusion of the two-step transfer path via the 4.44-MeV 2+ excited state of the 12C projectile in coupled channel Born approximation calculations enables a good description of the 208Pb(12C,11B)209Bi single-proton stripping data at four incident energies which could not be described by the FR-DWBA. We also show that inclusion of a similar reaction path for the 208Pb(12C,13C)207Pb single-neutron pickup reaction has a relatively minor influence, slightly improving the already good description obtained with the FR-DWBA.

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arXiv2018

A Cautionary Tale: The Coulomb Modified ANC for the $\mathbf{1/2^+_2}$ State in $^\mathbf{17}$O

We discuss the impact of the uncertainty ($\pm 8$ keV) in the excitation energy of the astrophysically important 6.356 MeV $1/2^+_2$ state of $^{17}$O on the precision with which the Coulomb reduced ANC ($\widetilde{C}$) for the $\left<^{17}\mathrm{O}(1/2^+_2) \mid \protect{^{13}\mathrm{C}} + α\right>$ overlap can be extracted from direct reaction data. We find a linear dependence of $\widetilde{C}^2$ on the binding energy, the value extracted varying by a factor of 4 over the range $E_{\mathrm{ex}} = 6.356$ -- $6.348$ MeV. This represents an intrinsic limit on the precision with which $\widetilde{C}^2$ can be determined which cannot be improved unless or until the uncertainty in $E_{\mathrm{ex}}$ is reduced.

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arXiv2016

The dynamic polarization potential and dynamical non-locality in nuclear potentials: Deuteron-nucleus potential

The consequences for direct reactions of the dynamical non-locality generated by the excitation of the target and projectile are much less studied than the effects of non-locality arising from exchange processes. Here we are concerned with the dynamical non-locality due to projectile excitation in deuteron induced reactions. The consequences of this non-locality can be studied by the comparison of deuteron induced direct reactions calculated with alternative representations of the elastic channel wave functions: (i) the elastic channel wave functions from coupled channel (CC) calculations involving specific reaction processes, and, (ii) elastic channel wave functions calculated from local potentials that exactly reproduce the elastic scattering $S$-matrix from the same CC calculations. In this work we produce the local equivalent deuteron potentials required for the study of direct reactions involving deuterons. These will enable the study of the effects of dynamical non-locality following a method previously employed in an investigation of the effects of non-locality due to target excitation. In this work we consider only excitations due to deuteron breakup, and some new properties of the breakup dynamical polarization potential (DPP) emerge that reveal dynamical non-locality directly. In addition, we evaluate the TELP inversion method and find that it fails to reproduce some features of the DPP due to breakup.

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arXiv2016

Probing transfer to unbound states of the ejectile with weakly bound 7Li on 93Nb

The two-step process of transfer followed by breakup is explored by measuring a rather complete set of exclusive data for reaction channels populating states in the ejectile continua of the $^7$Li+$^{93}$Nb system at energies close to the Coulomb barrier. The cross sections for $α+α$ events from one proton pickup were found to be smaller than those for $α+d$ events from one neutron stripping and $α+t$ events from direct breakup of $^7$Li. Coupled channels Born approximation and continuum discretized coupled channels calculations describe the data well and support the conclusion that the $α+d$ and $α+α$ events are produced by direct transfer to unbound states of the ejectile.

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arXiv2015

Strong Multi-step Interference Effects in 12C(d,p) to the 9/2+ State in 13C

The population of the 9.50 MeV 9/2+ resonance in 13C by single neutron transfer reactions is expected to be dominated by the two-step route through the 12C 2+ (4.44 MeV) state, with another possible contribution via the strongly excited 3- (9.64 MeV) resonance in 12C. However, we find that a good description of the angular distribution for population of this state via the 12C(d,p)13C reaction is only possible when both direct 0+ x g_9/2 and two-step (via the 4.44 MeV 12C 2+ state) 2+ x d_5/2 paths are included in a coupled reaction channel calculation. While the calculated angular distribution is almost insensitive to the presence of the two-step path via the 9.64 MeV 12C 3- resonance, despite a much greater contribution to the wave function from the 3- x f_7/2 configuration, its inclusion is required to fit the details of the experimental angular distribution. The very large interference between the various components of the calculations, even when these are small, arises through the ``kinematic'' effect associated with the different transfer routes.

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arXiv2014

Strong coupling effects in near-barrier heavy-ion elastic scattering

Accurate elastic scattering angular distribution data measured at bombarding energies just above the Coulomb barrier have shapes that can markedly differ from or be the same as the expected classical Fresnel scattering pattern depending on the structure of the projectile, the target or both. Examples are given such as 18O + 184W and 16O + 148,152Sm where the expected rise above Rutherford scattering due to Coulomb-nuclear interference is damped by coupling to the target excited states, and the extreme case of 11Li scattering, where coupling to the 9Li + n + n continuum leads to an elastic scattering shape that cannot be reproduced by any standard optical model parameter set. The recent availability of high quality 6He, 11Li and 11Be data provides further examples of the influence that coupling effects can have on elastic scattering. Conditions for strong projectile-target coupling effects are presented with special emphasis on the importance of the beam-target charge combination being large enough to bring about the strong coupling effects. Several measurements are proposed that can lead to further understanding of strong coupling effects by both inelastic excitation and nucleon transfer on near-barrier elastic scattering. A final note on the anomalous nature of 8B elastic scattering is presented as it possesses a more or less normal Fresnel scattering shape whereas one would a priori not expect this due to the very low breakup threshold of 8B. The special nature of 11Li is presented as it is predicted that no matter how far above the Coulomb barrier the elastic scattering is measured, its shape will not appear as Fresnel like whereas the elastic scattering of all other loosely bound nuclei studied to date should eventually do so as the incident energy is increased, making both 8B and 11Li truly "exotic".

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arXiv2014

Single Particle Strengths and Mirror States in $^{15}$N$-^{15}$O below 12.0 MeV

New $^{14}$N(d,p) angular distribution data were taken at a deuteron bombarding energy of 16 MeV to locate all narrow single particle neutron states up to 15 MeV in excitation. A new shell model calculation is able to reproduce all levels in $^{15}$N up to 11.5 MeV and is used to characterize a narrow single particle level at 11.236 MeV and to provide a map of the single particle strengths. The known levels in $^{15}$N are then used to determine their mirrors in the lesser known nucleus $^{15}$O. The 2s$_{1/2}$ and 1d$_{5/2}$ single particle centroid energies are determined for the $^{15}$N$-^{15}$O mirror pair as: $^{15}$N $(\text{2s}_{1/2}) = 8.08$ MeV, $^{15}$O $(\text{2s}_{1/2}) = 7.43$ MeV, $^{15}$N $(\text{1d}_{5/2}) = 7.97$ MeV, and $^{15}$O $(\text{1d}_{5/2}) = 7.47$ MeV. These results confirm the degeneracy of these orbits and that the $^{15}$N$-^{15}$O nuclei are where the transition between the $\text{2s}_{1/2}$ lying below the $\text{1d}_{5/2}$ to lying above it, takes place. The $\text{1d}_{3/2}$ single particle strength is estimated to be centered around 13 MeV in these nuclei.

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arXiv2013

Separation Between d$_{5/2}$ and s$_{1/2}$ Neutron Single Particle Strength in $^{15}$N

The separation between single particle levels in nuclei plays the dominant role in determining the location of the neutron drip line. The separation also provides a test of current crossed shell model interactions if the experimental data is such that multiple shells are involved. The present work uses the $^{14}$N(d, p)$^{15}$N reaction to extract the 2s$_{1/2}$, and 1d$_{5/2}$ total neutron single particle strengths and then compares these results with a shell model calculation using a p-sd crossed shell interaction to identify the J$^π$ of all levels in $^{15}$N up to 12.8 MeV in excitation.

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arXiv2013

Structure of unbound neutron-rich $^{9}$He studied using single-neutron transfer

The 8He(d,p) reaction was studied in inverse kinematics at 15.4A MeV using the MUST2 Si-CsI array in order to shed light on the level structure of 9He. The well known 16O(d,p)17O reaction, performed here in reverse kinematics, was used as a test to validate the experimental methods. The 9He missing mass spectrum was deduced from the kinetic energies and emission angles of the recoiling protons. Several structures were observed above the neutron-emission threshold and the angular distributions were used to deduce the multipolarity of the transitions. This work confirms that the ground state of 9He is located very close to the neutron threshold of 8He and supports the occurrence of parity inversion in 9He.

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