Evidence for ⁶ ₂He ‘Clusters’ in Nuclei

Abstract

THE well-known ‘α-particle’ model of the nucleus, whereby certain low-A nuclei are considered as consisting of groups of α-particles, has recently received a new impetus as a result of work by Wildermuth and Kanellopoulos¹ on the ‘cluster model’ of nuclei. These authors have presented a formal treatment of the behaviour of ‘cluster states’ and illustrated it with particular reference to the nucleus ⁸ ₄Be considered as two α-particle clusters. At the same time they have pointed out that clusters other than ⁴ ₂He might be present, and in fact suggested that stable closed shells such as those with neutron numbers, N, of 50 and 82, could be considered as large clusters. The question now arises as to which clusters are in fact suitable representations of particular nucleonic configurations, and the purpose of this communication is to present evidence in this connexion.