Protons from the Deuteron Bombardment of Helium-4

Proton spectra from the bombardment of ${\mathrm{He}}^4$ with deuterons of energies between 7.7 and 11 MeV have been obtained. A binding energy of -0.93±0.07 MeV and a width of 0.57±0.02 MeV are obtained for the ${\mathrm{He}}^5$ ground state. A ${\mathrm{He}}^4(d, p){\mathrm{He}}^5$ excitation function over the ${\mathrm{Li}}^6$ excitation-energy range from 6.5 to 8.7 MeV failed to confirm the existence of the proposed 7.4-MeV, $T=0\mathrm{}$ level. An extrapolation and integration of the present measurements yields an estimate for the total reaction cross section of 460±80 mb at 10 MeV and 460±50 mb at 11 MeV.