2009/07/29 by L. Buchmann, G. Ruprecht, Buchmann, L. +4
Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Nuclear Experiment (nucl-ex) #Nuclear Physics and Applications #Nuclear physics research studies #Scientific Research and Discoveries #nucl-ex
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0907.5340
27 figures, accepted by Physical Reviev C
arxiv created 2009/07/29 · openalex publication_date 2009/07/29 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The beta-delayed alpha-decay of 16N has been used to restrict the E1 fraction of the ground state gamma-transition in the astrophysically important 12C(alpha,gamma)16O reaction in several experiments including those performed at TRIUMF and several other laboratories. A review of the published measurements is given, and GEANT4 simulations and R-Matrix calculations are presented to further clarify the observed alpha spectra. A clear response-function, in the form of a low-energy tail from the scattering of alpha-particles in the catcher foil is observed in these simulations for any foil thickness. Contrary to claims in the literature, the simulations show that the TRIUMF measurement and those performed at Yale and Mainz originate from the same underlying spectrum. The simulations suggests that the discrepancies between the Yale and TRIUMF final results can be attributed to incorrect deconvolution methods applied in the former case. The simulations show in general that the form (width) of the spectrum is very sensitive to the catcher foil thickness. It is concluded that the TRIUMF measurement most likely represents the currently closest approximation to the true beta-delayed alpha-decay spectrum of 16N.