The interest in experimental studies of the 12 C nucleus is partly due to the astrophysical interest in its spectroscopic properties, which determine the triple alpha reaction rate, and partly motivated by the structure of this nucleus, which is not fully explained theoretically. Some aspects are described in the shell model and others by a cluster structure of three alpha particles, but both cannot so far be combined in a unified model. New experiments have been performed to address these problems. The focus of this work is on an implantation experiment, which took place in April 2006 at KVI.

Influences on the triple alpha process beyond the Hoyle state Christian Aa. Diget