Alpha-particle reactions

Recent work using the concept of alpha-clustering in studies of nuclear structure and nuclear reactions is reviewed. The high symmetry and binding energy of the alpha-particle makes it likely that nucleons inside the nucleus can condense into alpha particles and live long enough to affect many properties of nuclei and also the cross-sections of nuclear reactions, particularly those with alpha-particles as the projectile or ejectile. The alpha-particles inside the nucleus may escape, and the resulting alpha decay is now quite well understood. An incident projectile may collide with a transient alpha-particle in the nucleus and knock it out, thus providing information on the degree of clustering. This model enables the direct part of the cross-sections of (n, α) reactions to be calculated. The alpha-particle mean field unifies many of the characteristics of alpha-particle structure and alpha-particle scattering. Many properties of light nuclei may be simply explained using the concept of alpha-clustering.