Speaker
Description
A recent experiment suggests that the ground state of the neutron-unbound nucleus $^\text{26}$O could have a lifetime in the pico-second regime. This would constitute the first case of a radioactive decay via neutron emission, if this value can be confirmed.
In Dezember 2016, an experiment using a new measurement method to determine the decay lifetime of the $^\text{26}$O ground state with high sensitivity and precision was performed at SAMURAI. Here, a $^\text{27}$F beam was produced in the fragment separator BigRIPS and impinged on a W/Pt target stack where $^\text{26}$O was produced. According to the lifetime, the decay of $^\text{26}$O happens either in- or outside the target. Thus, the velocity difference between the decay neutrons and the fragment $^\text{24}$O delivers a characteristic spectrum from which the lifetime can be extracted.
The current analysis status will be reported. This work is supported by the DFG through grant no. SFB 1245.