Study of continuum nuclear structure of 12C via (p, p′X) at intermediate energies

The inclusive 12C(p,p′) and exclusive 12C(p,p′X) reactions have been studied with a beam energy of 156 MeV and for X = p and α. The study focuses on the (p,p′X) reaction mechanism and on the structure of 12C just above the particle-emission threshold, 14 ≤ Ex ≤ 28 MeV. Cross sections were simultaneously measured for all three reactions. The exclusive data were analyzed by making multiple-peak fits of the spectra and by Legendre-polynomial fits of the angular correlations. Multiple-peak fits were also made of the inclusive spectra. An analysis of the results shows that this region of Ex consists predominantly of resonant excitations, in contradiction to the findings of previous analyses.