Suppression Of The Centrifugal Barrier Effects In The Off-Energy-Shell Neutron Plus O-17 Interaction

The reaction O-17(n, alpha)C-14 was studied at energies from E-c.m. = 0 to E-c.m. = 350 keV by using the quasifree deuteron breakup in the three-body reaction O-17 + d -> alpha + C-14 + p, which extended the Trojan Horse indirect method (THM) to neutron-induced reactions. It is found that the O-18 excited state at E* = 8.125 +/- 0.002 MeV, observed in THM experiments, is absent in the direct measurement because of its high centrifugal barrier. The angular distributions of the populated resonances have been measured by using this method. The results unambiguously indicate the ability of the THM to overcome the centrifugal barrier suppression effect and to pick out the contribution of the bare nuclear interaction. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevC.87.012801