¹⁴N-trinucleon-cluster states in ¹⁷F and ¹⁷O

A cluster model is used to calculate the energies of those states in ¹⁷F and ¹⁷O which have a trinucleon-¹⁴N cluster-core structure. The non-central terms in the cluster-core potential are deduced phenomenologically and also calculated microscopically. They are found to be intimately related to equivalent terms in the potentials for similar cluster-core decompositions of neighbouring nuclei. The results are compared with the spectrum of states excited in a recent experimental study of three-particle transfer onto ¹⁴N.