  When two heavy ions near the Fermi energy collide, a warm and low-density
region can form in which fragments appear. This region is mainly dominated by
proton (p) and alpha particles. In such an environment, the alphas interact
with each other, and especially through strong resonances, form complex systems
such as 8Be and 12C. Our experiments show that in the reactions
70(64)Zn(64Ni)+70(64)Zn(64Ni) at E/A=35 MeV/nucleon levels of 8Be appear around
relative energies Eij=0.092 MeV, 3.03 MeV as well as above 10 MeV and 100 MeV.
For the 3 alpha systems, multi resonance processes give rise to excited levels
of 12C. In particular, the Hoyle state at 7.654 MeV excitation energy shows a
decay component through the ground state of 8Be and also shows components where
two different alpha couples are at relative energies consistent with the ground
state of 8Be at the same time. A component where the three alpha relative
energies are consistent with the ground state of 8Be (i.e., E12=E13=E23=0.092
MeV) is also observed at the 7.458 MeV excitation energy, which was suggested
as an Efimov state.

Nuclear Experiment