Proton halo in the 13N nucleus

Abstract

We demonstrate that the radii of excited nuclear states can be estimated using the (³He, t) charge-exchange reaction and relying on the modified diffraction model. The radius of the N excited state with an excitation energy of E*=2.73 MeV, which lies in a continuous spectrum, is determined. The radius of this state proves to be close to that of the mirror 3.09-MeV state of the ¹³С nucleus, which possesses a neutron halo but lies in a discrete spectrum. Thereby, we demonstrate that the 2.37-MeV state of the ¹³N nucleus has a proton halo. The analysis is based on published measurements of differential cross sections for relevant reactions.