Vanishing spin alignment: Experimental indication of a triaxial Si-28+Si-28 nuclear molecule - art. no. 041303

Fragment-fragment-gamma coincidences have been measured for Si-28+Si-28 at an energy corresponding to the population of a conjectured resonance in Ni- 56. Fragment angular distributions as well as gamma-ray angular correlation s indicate that the spin orientations of the outgoing fragments are perpend icular to the orbital angular momentum. This differs from the Mg-24+Mg-24 a nd the C-12+C-12 resonances, and suggests two oblate Si-28 nuclei interacti ng in an equator-to-equator molecular configuration. [S0556-2813(99)50610-9 ].