Across the drip-line and back: examining 16B

Licentiatavhandling, 2014

Until today, after about one century of research, the atomic nucleus, a basic building block of nature, is still a fascinating puzzle. The field of nuclear physics strives for a better understanding employing both experimental and theoretical efforts. To gain further knowledge, nuclear physics experiments grow more and more sophisticated, pushing the limits of feasibility. Nuclei beyond the drip-lines are a target believed to supply information about the nuclear interaction which is not accessible otherwise. High-energy nuclear reactions are versatile tool to study nuclei at and beyond the drip-lines. One of the world-leading experimental-setups for high energy nuclear reactions is the LAND/R3B setup at GSI which offers excellent opportunities to study exotic nuclei close to and beyond the drip-lines. The present work centers around the study of the unbound nucleus 16B, analyzing an experiment performed at the LAND/R3B setup. 16B is the lightest unbound boron isotope, while heavier bound boron isotopes exist. It is studied by quasi-free scattering, produced by 17C undergoing a (p,2p) reaction, which is the production mechanism leaving the produced fragment least disturbed. The relative energy, transverse momentum distributions, and momentum profile of the 16B system are presented. At the current stage of analysis, relative energy and transverse momentum distributions are in agreement with previous measurements. A momentum profile has not been extracted before. Due to the nature of these experiments trying to push the frontier, developments of experimental techniques are an integral part of research. A significant share of this work is dedicated to developments, enabling or facilitating the analysis of the present and other experiments performed with the same setup.