A new approach to the production and detection of bound neutron clusters is presented. The technique is based on the breakup of beams of very neutron-rich nuclei and the subsequent detection of the recoiling proton in a liquid scintillator. The method has been tested in the breakup of intermediate energy (30-50 MeV/nucleon) Li-11, Be-14, and B-15 beams. Some six events were observed that exhibit the characteristics of a multineutron cluster liberated in the breakup of Be-14, most probably in the channel Be-10+(4)n. The various backgrounds that may mimic such a signal are discussed in detail.

This work was funded under the auspices of the IN2P3-CNRS (France) and EPSRC (United Kingdom). Additional support from the ALLIANCE program (Ministère des Affaires Etrangères and British Council) and the Human Capital and Mobility Program of the European Community (Contract No. CHGE-CT94-0056) is also acknowledged.

10 pages, 2 tables, 13 figures.--PACS nrs.: 21.45.1v, 25.10.1s, 21.10.Gv.--ArXiv pre-print available at: http://arxiv.org/abs/nucl-ex/0111001

Peer reviewed