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      Observation of a correlated free four-neutron system

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      1 , , 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 2 , 5 , 1 , 6 , 1 , 7 , 5 , 16 , 5 , 8 , 4 , 2 , 1 , 2 , 5 , 5 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 4 , 12 , 13 , 10 , 6 , 5 , 1 , 5 , 14 , 5 , 9 , 7 , 9 , 15 , 16 , 12 , 11 , 17 , 1 , 5 , 5 , 1 , 11 , 16 , 1 , 16 , 18 , 17 , 2 , 1 , 5 , 12 , 19 , 1 , 20 , 13 , 7 , 21 , 17 , 22 , 1 , 18 , 7 , 17 , 20 , 1 , 9 , 7 , 5 , 15 , 16 , 7 , 23 , 4 , 7 , 9 , 24 , 17 , 5 , 1 , 1 , 21 , 2 , 16 , 21 , 5 , 1 , 5 , 1 , 5 , 17 , 17 , 1 , 2 , 1 , 5 , 1 , 17 , 13 , 21 , 5 , 17 , 5 , 1 , 5 , 25 , 20
      Nature
      Nature Publishing Group UK
      Experimental nuclear physics

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          Abstract

          A long-standing question in nuclear physics is whether chargeless nuclear systems can exist. To our knowledge, only neutron stars represent near-pure neutron systems, where neutrons are squeezed together by the gravitational force to very high densities. The experimental search for isolated multi-neutron systems has been an ongoing quest for several decades 1 , with a particular focus on the four-neutron system called the tetraneutron, resulting in only a few indications of its existence so far 24 , leaving the tetraneutron an elusive nuclear system for six decades. Here we report on the observation of a resonance-like structure near threshold in the four-neutron system that is consistent with a quasi-bound tetraneutron state existing for a very short time. The measured energy and width of this state provide a key benchmark for our understanding of the nuclear force. The use of an experimental approach based on a knockout reaction at large momentum transfer with a radioactive high-energy 8He beam was key.

          Abstract

          Experiment based on knocking out an alpha particle from a high-energy helium isotope shows a resonance-like structure that is consistent with a quasi-bound tetraneutron state existing for a very short time.

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          Most cited references28

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          Revelation of thick neutron skins in nuclei

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            Candidate Resonant Tetraneutron State Populated by the\({}^{4}\mathrm{He}({}^{8}\mathrm{He},{}^{8}\mathrm{Be})\)Reaction

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              Simplified α+4nmodel for the\({}_{}{}^{8}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{He}\)nucleus

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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                mduer@ikp.tu-darmstadt.de
                Journal
                Nature
                Nature
                Nature
                Nature Publishing Group UK (London )
                0028-0836
                1476-4687
                22 June 2022
                22 June 2022
                2022
                : 606
                : 7915
                : 678-682
                Affiliations
                [1 ]GRID grid.6546.1, ISNI 0000 0001 0940 1669, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Fachbereich Physik, ; Darmstadt, Germany
                [2 ]GRID grid.159791.2, ISNI 0000 0000 9127 4365, GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH, ; Darmstadt, Germany
                [3 ]Helmholtz Forschungsakademie Hessen für FAIR, Frankfurt, Germany
                [4 ]GRID grid.6936.a, ISNI 0000000123222966, Technische Universität München, Physik Department, ; Garching, Germany
                [5 ]GRID grid.474691.9, RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science, ; Wako, Japan
                [6 ]GRID grid.5685.e, ISNI 0000 0004 1936 9668, Department of Physics, , University of York, ; York, UK
                [7 ]GRID grid.412043.0, ISNI 0000 0001 2186 4076, LPC-Caen, IN2P3/CNRS, UniCaen, ENSICAEN, Normandie Université, ; Caen, France
                [8 ]GRID grid.264758.a, ISNI 0000 0004 1937 0087, Department of Physics and Astronomy, , Texas A&M University-Commerce, ; Commerce, TX USA
                [9 ]GRID grid.457342.3, ISNI 0000 0004 0619 0319, IRFU, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay, ; Gif-sur-Yvette, France
                [10 ]GRID grid.11794.3a, ISNI 0000000109410645, Dpt. de Física de Partículas, , Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, ; Santiago de Compostela, Spain
                [11 ]GRID grid.4830.f, ISNI 0000 0004 0407 1981, Nuclear Energy group, , ESRIG, University of Groningen, ; Groningen, The Netherlands
                [12 ]GRID grid.418861.2, ISNI 0000 0001 0674 7808, Atomki, Eötvös Loránd Research Network (ELKH), ; Debrecen, Hungary
                [13 ]GRID grid.11135.37, ISNI 0000 0001 2256 9319, State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Technology, School of Physics, , Peking University, ; Beijing, China
                [14 ]GRID grid.4905.8, ISNI 0000 0004 0635 7705, Rudjer Bošković Institute, ; Zagreb, Croatia
                [15 ]GRID grid.255649.9, ISNI 0000 0001 2171 7754, Ewha Womans University, ; Seoul, Korea
                [16 ]GRID grid.410720.0, ISNI 0000 0004 1784 4496, Center for Exotic Nuclear Studies, , Institute for Basic Science, ; Daejeon, Korea
                [17 ]GRID grid.32197.3e, ISNI 0000 0001 2179 2105, Department of Physics, , Tokyo Institute of Technology, ; Tokyo, Japan
                [18 ]GRID grid.69566.3a, ISNI 0000 0001 2248 6943, Department of Physics, , Tohoku University, ; Miyagi, Japan
                [19 ]GRID grid.194645.b, ISNI 0000000121742757, Department of Physics, , The University of Hong Kong, ; Hong Kong, China
                [20 ]GRID grid.5371.0, ISNI 0000 0001 0775 6028, Department of Physics, , Chalmers University of Technology, ; Gothenburg, Sweden
                [21 ]GRID grid.26999.3d, ISNI 0000 0001 2151 536X, Center for Nuclear Study, , The University of Tokyo, ; Tokyo, Japan
                [22 ]GRID grid.6190.e, ISNI 0000 0000 8580 3777, Universität zu Köln, Institut für Kernphysik, ; Cologne, Germany
                [23 ]GRID grid.435167.2, ISNI 0000 0004 0475 5806, Institute of Space Sciences, ; Magurele, Romania
                [24 ]GRID grid.72943.3b, ISNI 0000 0001 0000 1888, GANIL, CEA/DRF-CNRS/IN2P3, ; Caen, France
                [25 ]GRID grid.258799.8, ISNI 0000 0004 0372 2033, Department of Physics, , Kyoto University, ; Kyoto, Japan
                Author information
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4241-1938
                Article
                4827
                10.1038/s41586-022-04827-6
                9217746
                35732764
                a7298c3b-690f-4f4d-80d9-f88b671d6454
                © The Author(s) 2022

                Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

                History
                : 4 August 2021
                : 28 April 2022
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