Neutron decay of excited nuclear states in heavy ion collisions

Abstract

The neutron decay of excited states of $^{7}\mathrm{Li}$ and $^{8}\mathrm{Li}$ has been investigated in the $^{14}\mathrm{Ag}$ reaction at E/A=35 MeV. Specifically, the production of the 2.255 MeV unbound state in $^{8}\mathrm{Li}$ and the 7.456 MeV unbound state in $^{7}\mathrm{Li}$ have been measured. Comparison of the production of those two states to that of previously measured lower-lying excited states indicates a nuclear temperature of 3.0(4) MeV. The fraction of the $^{7}\mathrm{Li}$ and $^{6}\mathrm{Li}$ nuclei from the neutron decay of these states is 6(2)% and 4(1)%, respectively, which is significant in that it can resolve some of the discrepancies between recent nuclear temperature measurements.