α-cluster structure and exotic states in a self-consistent model for light nuclei

In this article we examine to what extent traces of alpha clustering can be found in mean-field ground states of n alpha nuclei from Be-8 through Ar-36 as well as in some superdeformed states in S-32, Ar-36, and Ca-40. For this purpose we calculate the overlap of the mean-field Slater determinant with one containing pure Gaussians and perfect spin and isospin symmetry, optimizing the overlap by varying the alpha-particle positions and radii. In some cases a coherent sum over different configurations is also employed. We find quite large overlaps for some of the lighter systems that diminish for nuclei above Ne-20 but again strong clustering in Ar-36.