Nuclear matter distributions in the neutron-rich carbon isotopes 14−17C from intermediate-energy proton elastic scattering in inverse kinematics

The absolute differential cross sections for small-angle proton elastic scattering off the nuclei ¹²,¹⁴−¹⁷C have been measured in inverse kinematics at energies near 700 MeV/u at GSI Darmstadt. The hydrogen-filled ionization chamber IKAR served simultaneously as a gas target and a detector for the recoil protons. The projectile scattering angles were measured with multi-wire tracking detectors. The radial nuclear matter density distributions and the root-mean-square nuclear matter radii were deduced from the measured cross sections using the Glauber multiple-scattering theory. A possible neutron halo structure in ¹⁵C, ¹⁶C and ¹⁷C is discussed. The obtained data show evidence for a halo structure in the ¹⁵C nucleus.