Correlation studies of the H-5 spectrum

The nuclear system H-5 was studied using the H-3(t,p)H-5 transfer reaction at a laboratory energy of 57.7 MeV and small center of mass angles. The energy and angular correlations among the H-5 decay fragments were obtained by complete kinematical reconstruction. A broad structure in the H-5 missing mass spectrum above 2.5 MeV with a typical width of several MeV was identified as a mixture of 3/2(+) and 5/2(+) states. Analysis of interference patterns observed in the measured angular correlations disclosed the 1/2(+) ground state of H-5 concealed in the smooth missing mass spectrum. The deduced values for the resonance energy and width are E-g.s. approximate to 1.8 MeV and Gamma(g.s.) approximate to 1.3 MeV. The estimated cross sections for population of the ground state and the doublet of excited states at theta(c.m.) = 5(degrees)-10(degrees) are 150 +/- 50 mu b/sr and 4.6 +/- 2 mb/sr, respectively.status: publishe