DIMERS BASED ON THE ALPHA+ALPHA POTENTIAL AND CHAIN STATES OF CARBON ISOTOPES

Using the well established binding energies of one and two valence neu trons in the two-center alpha + alpha system (forming the states in Be -9 and Be-10) the structure of these nuclear dimers and their rotatio nal bands including those with more than 2 nucleons are discussed usin g published transfer reaction data for Be and Boron isotopes. Based on the 0(2)(+): state in C-12 which is supposed to be an 3 alpha particl e chain at an excitation energy of 7.65 MeV and using the binding ener gy of these valence neutrons in Be-9 and Be-10, chain states in the s ystem C-12 + x neutrons are constructed. The energy position of the l owest chain states are estimated and ways for their population in reac tions on Be-9 and using radioactive beams are proposed. It is expected that these states are metastable and could have appreciable branches for gamma-decay. Further extrapolations to longer chain states (polyme rs) in neutron rich light isotopes are made.