Formation of an ExcitedHe3in the Disintegration of Deuterium by Deuterons

The energy distribution of the neutrons from the reaction ${\mathrm{H}}^2+{\mathrm{H}}^2\to {\mathrm{He}}^3+n^1+Q_1$ has been studied. Two homogeneous neutron groups with energies of 1.08 and 2.50 Mev have been observed at 90° to the 0.11 Mev deuterons. The emission of 1.08 Mev neutrons has been found to be approximately $\frac{1}{10}$ as likely as the emission of 2.50 Mev neutrons. The corresponding values of $Q_1$ are ${Q_1}^0=3.29\mathrm{}\pm 0.08$ Mev and ${Q_1}^1=1.40\mathrm{}\pm 0.11$ Mev. The low energy group results when the ${\mathrm{He}}^3$ is left excited to a level of 1.89±0.11 Mev. The mass of ${\mathrm{He}}^3$ has been calculated from the value of ${Q_1}^0$ and the mass-spectrographic value of ${\mathrm{H}}^2$=2.01473. The result is ${\mathrm{He}}^3$ 3.01700. This result indicates that ${\mathrm{H}}^3$ may spontaneously disintegrate into ${\mathrm{He}}^3$ with the emission of an electron.