Spectroscopy of 16O using α + 12C resonant scattering in inverse kinematics

A measurement of the α(12C, α) 12C reaction has been performed using resonant scattering with a gas target. Beam energies of 46, 52, 56 and 63 MeV were used to populate resonances in the excitation energy range of 11.6–22.9 MeV in 16O. The angular distributions of the elastic scattering were measured at zero degrees, using an array of segmented silicon strip detectors with a minimum range of 0°–30° in the centre-of-mass. The spins of 8 resonances between 14.1 and 18.5 MeV were obtained, confirming spin assignments made using elastic scattering in normal kinematics. An R-matrix analysis of the data was performed which indicates that the present understanding of 16O in this region is good, but not complete.