Clustering in $^{18}$O - absolute determination of branching ratios via high-resolution particle spectroscopy

Abstract

The determination of absolute branching ratios for high-energy states in light nuclei is an important and useful tool for probing the underlying nuclear structure of individual resonances: for example, in establishing the tendency of an excited state towards $\alpha$-cluster structure. Difficulty arises in measuring these branching ratios due to similarities in available decay channels, such as ($^{18}$O,$n$) and ($^{18}$O,$2n$), as well as differences in geometric efficiencies due to population of bound excited levels in daughter nuclei. Methods are presented using Monte Carlo techniques to overcome these issues.