FURTHER EVIDENCE OF HIGH ENERGY DEUTERONS IN THE REACTION 3He + 3He

Publisher Summary This chapter presents evidence of high-energy deuterons in the reaction 3 He + 3 He. The reaction 3 He + 3 He → 2 H + 4 He + e + + ν has been studied recently and positive results were reported in the literature. Subsequently, experiments have been performed with the purpose of improving statistics and also to study possible processes which might yield spurious deuterons, that is, not originated from the 3 He target. The experimental procedure was similar to that reported earlier and the chapter shows a two-dimensional spectrum with a significant statistical improvement over previous data. There are 48 events satisfying the two necessary conditions for acceptance, that is, of having given a deuteron identification pulse (crosses), and of following the law of energy loss characteristic of deuterons (events in the band). Both criteria are applied to on-line data obtained with a triple telescope in coincidence followed by a fourth detector in anticoincidence.