Spectroscopy of proton-rich 79Zr : Mirror energy differences in the highly-deformed fpg shell

Energy differences between isobaric analogue states have been extracted for the A=79, 79Zr/79Y mirror pair following their population via nucleon-knockout reactions from intermediate-energy rare-isotope beams. These are the heaviest nuclei where such measurements have been made to date. The deduced mirror energy differences (MED) are compared with predictions from a new density-functional based approach, incorporating isospin-breaking effects of both Coulomb and nuclear charge-symmetry breaking and configuration mixing

Solving the Puzzles of the Decay of the Heaviest Known Proton-Emitting Nucleus Bi 185

Two long-standing puzzles in the decay of Bi185, the heaviest known proton-emitting nucleus are revisited. These are the nonobservation of the 9/2- state, which is the ground state of all heavier odd-A Bi isotopes, and the hindered nature of proton and α decays of its presumed 60-μs 1/2+ ground state. The Bi185 nucleus has now been studied with the Mo95(Nb93,3n) reaction in complementary experiments using the Fragment Mass Analyzer and Argonne Gas-Filled Analyzer at Argonne National Laboratory's ATLAS facility. The experiments have established the existence of two states in Bi185; the short-lived T1/2=2.8-1.0+2.3 μs, proton- and α-decaying ground state, and a 58(2)-μs γ-decaying isomer, the half-life of which was previously attributed to the ground state. The reassignment of the ground-state lifetime results in a proton-decay spectroscopic factor close to unity and represents the only known example of a ground-state proton decay to a daughter nucleus (Pb184) with a major shell closure. The data also demonstrate that the ordering of low- and high-spin states in Bi185 is reversed relative to the heavier odd-A Bi isotopes, with the intruder-based 1/2+ configuration becoming the ground, similar to the lightest At nuclides