Three-body correlations in direct reactions: Example of $^{6}$Be populated in $(p,n)$ reaction

Abstract

The 6 Be continuum states were populated in the charge-exchange reaction 1 H( 6 Li, 6 Be)n collecting very high statistics data (∼ 5 × 10 6 events) on the three-body α+p+p correlations. The 6 Be excitation energy region below ∼ 3 MeV is considered, where the data are dominated by contributions from the 0 + and 2 + states. It is demonstrated how the high-statistics few-body correlation data can be used to extract detailed information on the reaction mechanism. Such a derivation is based on the fact that highly spin-aligned states are typically populated in the direct reactions.