$^8$He nuclei stopped in nuclear track emulsion

Abstract

The fragment separator ACCULINNA in the G. N. Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions of JINR was used to expose a nuclear track emulsion to a beam of radioactive $^{8}$He nuclei of energy of 60 MeV and enrichment of about 80%. Measurements of decays of $^{8}$He nuclei stopped in the emulsion allow one to evaluate possibilities of $\alpha$-spectrometry and to observe a thermal drift of $^{8}$He atoms in matter. Knowledge of the energy and emission angles of $\alpha$-particles allows one to derive the energy distribution of $\alpha$-decays Q$_{2\alpha}$. The presence of a "tail" of large values Q$_{2\alpha}$ is established. The physical reason for the appearance of this "tail" in the distribution Q$_{2\alpha}$ is not clear. Its shape could allow one to verify calculations of spatial structure of nucleon ensembles emerging as $\alpha$-pairs of decays via the state $^8$Be$_{2+}$.