"tomography" of the cluster structure of light nuclei via relativistic dissociation

Abstract

These lecture notes present the capabilities of relativistic nuclear physics for the development of the physics of nuclear clusters. Nuclear track emulsion continues to be an effective technique for pilot studies that allows one, in particular, to study the cluster dissociation of a wide variety of light relativistic nuclei within a common approach. Despite the fact that the capabilities of the relativistic fragmentation for the study of nuclear clustering were recognized quite a long time ago, electronic experiments have not been able to come closer to an integrated analysis of ensembles of relativistic fragments. The continued pause in the investigation of the "fine" structure of relativistic fragmentation has led to resumption of regular exposures of nuclear emulsions in beams of light nuclei produced for the first time at the Nuclotron of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR, Dubna). To date, an analysis of the peripheral interactions of relativistic isotopes of beryllium, boron, carbon and nitrogen, including radioactive ones, with nuclei of the emulsion composition, has been performed, which allows the clustering pattern to be presented for a whole family of light nuclei. © 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland.