16 FEB 2026 - 10:53 CET

In October, members of the Nuclear Physics Group participated in reaction studies with neutron-rich light nuclei in the upgraded SEC (Scattering Experiments Chamber) device at CERN. The main objective of the experiment was to observe the states of 13Be through the 11Be(t,p)13Be reaction: a 11Be beam impinging on a tritium (3H) target and ejecting a proton to produce 13Be. These states were characterized through the analysis of the energy and momentum distributions of the residual protons, detected using forward and backward detectors. The unbound nucleus 13Be has an important role in the understanding of the structure of the two-neutron halo nucleus 14Be. Like the case of 11Li studied previously at SEC, the unbound nature of the excited states makes it difficult to study directly; instead indirect methods such as missing mass and invariant mass techniques using charge exchange, fragmentation, proton or neutron removal from 14Be.

Acknowledgments

This project has received funding from the European Union-Next-Generation funds under the grant agreement PR38/23-HISTARS (MRR).