Abstract
The direct decay branch from the state at in , which is known as the Hoyle state, is considered to affect the triple- reaction rate strongly and to give crucial information on its structure. We have performed a high-precision measurement of the decay from this state using the reaction at . The branching ratio of the direct decay was under the detection limit in the present experiment. By comparing with Monte Carlo simulations for three decay mechanisms as the sequential decay through the ground state of , the direct decay with equal energies of three particles, and the direct decay to the phase space uniformly, we have obtained the upper limit of 0.2% on the direct decay.
- Received 9 June 2014
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.102501
© 2014 American Physical Society