Competition between Allowed and First-Forbidden β Decay: The Case of Hg 208 → Tl 208

6 pags., 4 figs., 1 tab.The β decay of Hg208 into the one-proton hole, one neutron-particle Tl81208127 nucleus was investigated at CERN-ISOLDE. Shell-model calculations describe well the level scheme deduced, validating the proton-neutron interactions used, with implications for the whole of the N>126, Z<82 quadrant of neutron-rich nuclei. While both negative and positive parity states with spin 0 and 1 are expected within the Qβ window, only three negative parity states are populated directly in the β decay. The data provide a unique test of the competition between allowed Gamow-Teller and Fermi, and first-forbidden β decays, essential for the understanding of the nucleosynthesis of heavy nuclei in the rapid neutron capture process. Furthermore, the observation of the parity changing 0+→0-β decay where the daughter state is core excited is unique, and can provide information on mesonic corrections of effective operators.This work was supported by the European Union under Contracts No. 262010 (ENSAR) and No. 654002 (ENSAR2), the Science and Technology Facilities Council (UK), the German BMBF under Contract No. 05P18PKCIA and “Verbundprojekt 05P2018,” the MINECO Projects No. FPA2015-65035-P, No. RTI2018- 098868-B-I00, No. FPA2015-64969-P, and No. FPA2017- 87568-P (Spain), FWO-Vlaanderen (Belgium), GOA/ 2015/010 (BOF KU Leuven), the Excellence of Science programme (EOS-FWO), the Interuniversity Attraction Poles Programme initiated by the Belgian Science Policy Office (BriX network P7/12), the Romanian IFA project CERN-RO/ISOLDE and the Polish National Science Centre under Contracts No. UMO-2015/18/M/ST2/00523 and No. UMO-2019/33/N/ST2/03023. P. H. R. and S. M. J. acknowledge support from the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy via the National Measurement Office. Zs. P. acknowledges support from the ExtreMe Matter Institute EMMI at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum fr Schwerionenforschung, Darmstadt, Germa

First -decay spectroscopy of and new -decay branches of

19 pags., 14 figs., 3 tabs.The  decay of the neutron-rich and was investigated experimentally in order to provide new insights into the nuclear structure of the tin isotopes with magic proton number above the shell. The -delayed -ray spectroscopy measurement was performed at the ISOLDE facility at CERN, where indium isotopes were selectively laser-ionized and on-line mass separated. Three -decay branches of were established, two of which were observed for the first time. Population of neutron-unbound states decaying via rays was identified in the two daughter nuclei of and , at excitation energies exceeding the neutron separation energy by 1 MeV. The -delayed one- and two-neutron emission branching ratios of were determined and compared with theoretical calculations. The -delayed one-neutron decay was observed to be dominant -decay branch of even though the Gamow-Teller resonance is located substantially above the two-neutron separation energy of . Transitions following the  decay of are reported for the first time, including rays tentatively attributed to . In total, six new levels were identified in on the basis of the coincidences observed in the and decays. A transition that might be a candidate for deexciting the missing neutron single-particle state in was observed in both  decays and its assignment is discussed. Experimental level schemes of and are compared with shell-model predictions. Using the fast timing technique, half-lives of the , and levels in were determined. From the lifetime of the state measured for the first time, an unexpectedly large transition strength was deduced, which is not reproduced by the shell-model calculations.M.P.-S. acknowledges the funding support from the Polish National Science Center under Grants No. 2019/33/N/ST2/03023 and No. 2020/36/T/ST2/00547 (Doctoral scholarship ETIUDA). J.B. acknowledges support from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid under the Predoctoral Grant No. CT27/16- CT28/16. This work was partially funded by the Polish National Science Center under Grants No. 2020/39/B/ST2/02346, No. 2015/18/E/ST2/00217, and No. 2015/18/M/ST2/00523, by the Spanish government via Projects No. FPA2017-87568-P, No. RTI2018-098868-B-I00, No. PID2019-104390GB-I00, and No. PID2019-104714GB-C21, by the U.K. Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), the German BMBF under Contract No. 05P18PKCIA, by the Portuguese FCT under the Projects No. CERN/FIS-PAR/0005/2017, and No. CERN/FIS-TEC/0003/2019, and by the Romanian IFA Grant CERN/ISOLDE. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No. 654002. M.Str. acknowledges the funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant Agreement No. 771036 (ERC CoG MAIDEN). J.P. acknowledges support from the Academy of Finland (Finland) with Grant No. 307685. Work at the University of York was supported under STFC Grants No. ST/L005727/1 and No. ST/P003885/1

Experimental study of the lifetime and phase transition in neutron-rich ^98,100,102Zr

International audienceRapid shape changes are observed for neutron-rich nuclei with A around 100. In particular, a sudden onset of ground-state deformation is observed in the Zr and Sr isotopic chains at N = 60: Low-lying states in N 58 nuclei are nearly spherical, while those with N 60 have a rotational character. Nuclear lifetimes as short as a few picoseconds can be measured using fast-timing techniques with LaBr3(Ce) scintillators, yielding a key ingredient in the systematic study of the shape evolution in this region.We used neutron-induced fission of 241Pu and 235U to study lifetimes of excited states in fission fragments in the A ∼ 100 region with the EXILL-FATIMA array located at the PF1B cold neutron beam line at the Institut Laue-Langevin. In particular, we applied the generalized centroid difference method to deduce lifetimes of low-lying states for the nuclei 98Zr (N = 58), 100Zr,and 102Zr (N 60). The results are discussed in the context of the presumed phase transition in the Zr chain by comparing the experimental transition strengths with the theoretical calculations using the interacting boson model and the Monte Carlo shell model

Investigation of the Δn = 0 selection rule in Gamow-Teller transitions : The β-decay of 207 Hg

Gamow-Teller β decay is forbidden if the number of nodes in the radial wave functions of the initial and final states is different. This Δn=0 requirement plays a major role in the β decay of heavy neutron-rich nuclei, affecting the nucleosynthesis through the increased half-lives of nuclei on the astrophysical r-process pathway below both Z=50 (for N>82) and Z=82 (for N>126). The level of forbiddenness of the Δn=1ν1g 9/2 →π0g 7/2 transition has been investigated from the β − decay of the ground state of 207 Hg into the single-proton-hole nucleus 207 Tl in an experiment at the ISOLDE Decay Station. From statistical observational limits on possible γ-ray transitions depopulating the π0g 7/2 −1 state in 207 Tl, an upper limit of 3.9×10 −3 % was obtained for the probability of this decay, corresponding to log⁡ft>8.8 within a 95% confidence limit. This is the most stringent test of the Δn=0 selection rule to date

Efficiency measurement and Monte Carlo simulations of a CeBr3 scintillator

CeBr3 crystals meet many of the demands of high performance scintillators, due to their excellent timing properties, good effective Z and high photon yield. It is important to characterize their efficiency and to verify whether modern Monte Carlo codes are reliable enough to reproduced the observed values. We report here on the measurement of both total and photopeak efficiency of a 1” diameter×1” height CeBr3 crystal for gamma-ray energies up to 1.4 MeV at several distances, using a variety of low energy gamma rays sources. The measured experimental efficiencies are compared with simulations developed in the framework of PENELOPE and GEANT4. © 2016 Elsevier LtdLos cristales CeBr3 satisfacen muchas de las demandas de los centelleadores de alto rendimiento, debido a sus excelentes propiedades de sincronización, buena Z efectiva y alto rendimiento de fotones. Es importante caracterizar su eficiencia y verificar si los códigos modernos de Monte Carlo son lo suficientemente confiables como para reproducir los valores observados. Aquí presentamos un informe sobre la medición de la eficiencia total y fotopeak de un cristal de 1 "de diámetro × 1" de altura para energías de rayos gamma de hasta 1.4 MeV a varias distancias, utilizando una variedad de fuentes de rayos gamma de baja energía. Las eficiencias experimentales medidas se comparan con simulaciones desarrolladas en el marco de PENELOPE y GEANT4.Universidad Nacional, Costa RicaUniversidad Nacional, Costa Ric

Search for beta-delayed proton emission from 11^{11}Be

We report on an attempt to reproduce the observation of $\beta ^-$-delayed proton emission from $^{11}$Be through detection of the final state nucleus $^{10}$Be with accelerator mass spectrometry. Twelve samples were collected at the ISOLDE facility at CERN at different separator settings, allowing tests of different sources of contamination to be carried out. The observed amounts of $^{10}$Be per collected $^{11}$Be rule out several contamination sources, but do not agree internally. Formation of BeH molecular ions in the ion source may explain our data, in which case an upper limit of the $\beta$p branching ratio of $2.2 \times 10^{-6}$ can be derived.We report on an attempt to reproduce the observation of $\beta^-$-delayed proton emission from $^{11}$Be through detection of the final state nucleus $^{10}$Be with accelerator mass spectrometry. Twelve samples were collected at the ISOLDE facility at CERN at different separator settings, allowing tests of different sources of contamination to be carried out. The observed amounts of $^{10}$Be per collected $^{11}$Be rule out several contamination sources, but do not agree internally. Formation of BeH molecular ions in the ion source may explain our data, in which case an upper limit of the $\beta$p branching ratio of $2.2 \cdot 10^{-6}$ can be derived

Search for beta-delayed proton emission from 11 Be

8 pags., 4 figs., 4 tabs.We report on an attempt to reproduce the observation of β-delayed proton emission from Be through detection of the final state nucleus Be with accelerator mass spectrometry. Twelve samples were collected at the ISOLDE facility at CERN at different separator settings, allowing tests of different sources of contamination to be carried out. The observed amounts of Be per collected Be rule out several contamination sources, but do not agree internally. Formation of BeH molecular ions in the ion source may explain our data, in which case an upper limit of the βp branching ratio of 2.2 × 10 can be derived.We would like to acknowledge support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant agreement no. 654002, from the Spanish research projects FPA2015-64969- P, FPA2015-65035-P and FPA2017-87568-P (MINECO/FEDER, UE), and from the Danish Council for Independent Research (DFF-4181- 00218)

Search for the 73Ga^{73}\mathrm{Ga} ground-state doublet splitting in the β\beta decay of 73Zn^{73}\mathrm{Zn}

International audienceThe existence of two close-lying nuclear states in $^{73}$Ga has recently been experimentally determined: a 1/2$^−$ spin-parity for the ground state was measured in a laser spectroscopy experiment, while a J$^{\pi} = 3/2^−$ level was observed in transfer reactions. This scenario is supported by Coulomb excitation studies, which set a limit for the energy splitting of 0.8 keV. In this work, we report on the study of the excited structure of $^{73}$Ga populated in the $\beta$ decay of $^{73}$Zn produced at ISOLDE, CERN. Using $\beta$-gated, $\gamma$-ray singles, and $\gamma - \gamma$ coincidences, we have searched for energy differences to try to delimit the ground-state energy splitting, providing a more stringent energy difference limit. Three new half-lives of excited states in $^{73}$Ga have been measured using the fast-timing method with LaBr$_3$(Ce) detectors. From our study, we help clarify the excited structure of $^{73}$Ga and we extend the existing $^{73}$Zn decay to $^{73}$Ga with 8 new energy levels and 35 $\gamma$ transitions. We observe a 195-keV transition consistent with a $\gamma$ ray de-exciting a short-lived state in the $\beta$-decay parent $^{73}$Zn