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Clarification of the three-body decay of 12C (12.71 MeV)
H O U Fynbo1, Y Prezado, U C Bergmann
1Institut for Fysik og Astronomi, Aarhus Universitet, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. fynbo@phys.au.dk
Abstract:
Using beta decays of a clean source of 12N produced at the IGISOL facility, we have measured the breakup of the 12C (12.71 MeV) state into three alpha particles with a segmented particle detector setup. The high quality of the data permits solving the question of the breakup mechanism of the 12.71 MeV state, a longstanding problem in few-body nuclear physics. Among existing models, a modified sequential model fits the data best, but systematic deviations indicate that a three-body description is needed.
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