Searching for Resonances in the Unbound Nucleus 6Be

Knowledge of the 3He(3He,2p)4He reaction is important for understanding stellar burning and solar neutrino production. Previous measurements have found a surprisingly large rise in the cross section at low energies that could be due to a low energy resonance in the 3He+3He (6Be) system or electron screening. In the 6Be nucleus, however, no excited states have been observed above the first 2+ state at Ex = 1.67 MeV up to 23 MeV, even though several are expected. The d(7Be,t)6Be reaction has been studied for the first time to search for resonances in the 6Be nucleus that may affect our understanding of the 3He(3He,2p)4He reaction. A 100‐MeV 7Be beam from the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility (HRIBF) was used to bombard CD2 targets, and tritons were detected by the Silicon Detector Array (SIDAR). It appears that a combination of reaction mechanisms is necessary to explain the observed triton energy spectrum.