Invariant-mass spectroscopy of $^{18}$Ne, $^{16}$O, and $^{10}$C excited states formed in neutron transfer reactions

Neutron-transfer reactions with fast secondary beams of Ne-17, O-15, and C-9 have been studied with the HiRA and CAESAR arrays. Excited states of Ne-18, O-16, and C-10 in the continuum have been identified using invariant-mass spectroscopy. The best experimental resolution of these states is achieved by selecting events where the decay fragments are emitted transverse to the beam direction. We have confirmed a number of spin assignments made in previous works for the negative-parity states of Ne-18. In addition we have found new higher-lying excited states in O-16 and Ne-18, some of which fission into two ground-state Be-8 fragments. Finally for C-10, a new excited state was observed. These transfer reactions were found to leave the remnant of the Be-9 target nuclei at very high excitation energies and may be associated with the pickup of a deeply bound Be-9 neutron.