Background: Inelastic neutrino-nucleus scattering is important for understanding core-collapse supernovae and the detection of emitted neutrinos from such events in earth-based detectors. Direct measurement of the cross sections is difficult and has only been performed on a few nuclei. It is, therefore, important to develop indirect techniques from which the inelastic neutrino-nucleus scattering cross sections can be determined. Purpose: This paper presents a development of the (6 Li, 6 Li * [T =1, Tz = 0, 0 + , 3.56 MeV]) reaction at 100 MeV/u as a probe for isolating the isovector spin-transfer response in the inelastic channel(∆S = 1, ∆T = 1, ∆Tz = 0), from which the Gamow-Teller transition strengths from nuclei of relevance for inelastic neutrino-nucleus scattering cross sections can be extracted. Method: By measuring the 6 Li ejectile in a magnetic spectrometer and selecting events in which the 3.56-MeV γ ray from the decay of the 6 Li * [3.56 MeV] state is detected, the isovector spin-transfer selectivity is obtained. High-purity germanium clover detectors served to detect the γ rays. Doppler reconstruction was used to determine the γ energy in the rest frame of 6 Li. From the 6 Li and 3.56-MeV γ momentum vectors the excitation energy of the residual nucleus was determined. Results: In the study of the 12 C(6 Li, 6 Li * [3.56 MeV]) reaction, the isovector spin-transfer excitation-energy spectrum in the inelastic channel was successfully measured. The strong Gamow-Teller state in 12 C at 15.1 MeV was observed. Comparisons with the analog 12 C(6 Li, 6 He) reaction validate the method of extracting the Gamow-Teller strength. In measurements of the 24 Mg, 93 Nb(6 Li, 6 Li * [3.56 MeV]) reactions, the 3.56-MeV γ peak could not be isolated from the strong background in the γ spectrum from decay of isoscalar excitations. It is argued that by using a γ-ray tracking array instead of a clover array, it is feasible to extend the mass range over which the (6 Li, 6 Li *) reaction can be used for extracting the isovector spin-transfer response up to mass number ∼25 and perhaps higher. Conclusions: It is demonstrated that the (6 Li, 6 Li * [3.56 MeV]) reaction probe can be used to isolate the inelastic isovector spin-transfer response in nuclei. Application to nuclei with mass number of about 25 or more, however, will require a more efficient γ-ray array with better tracking capability. I. INTRODUCTION Inelastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (INNS) plays an important role during core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) as it provides a dissipative mechanism by which neutrinos deposit their energy in nuclear matter during the
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.