Beta-delayed neutron spectroscopy of 133^{133}In

The decay properties of $^{133}$In were studied in detail at the ISOLDE Decay Station (IDS). The implementation of the Resonance Ionization Laser Ion Source (RILIS) allowed separate measurements of its $9/2^+$ ground state ($^{133g}$In) and $1/2^-$ isomer ($^{133m}$In). With the use of $\beta$-delayed neutron and $\gamma$ spectroscopy, the decay strengths above the neutron separation energy were quantified in this neutron-rich nucleus for the first time. The allowed Gamow-Teller transition $9/2^+\rightarrow7/2^+$ was located at 5.92 MeV in the $^{133g}$In decay with a logft = 4.7(1). In addition, several neutron-unbound states were populated at lower excitation energies by the First-Forbidden decays of $^{133g,m}$In. We assigned spins and parities to those neutron-unbound states based on the $\beta$-decay selection rules, the logft values, and systematics

133In: A Rosetta Stone for decays of r-process nuclei

The $\beta$ decays from both the ground state and a long-lived isomer of $^{133}$In were studied at the ISOLDE Decay Station (IDS). With a hybrid detection system sensitive to $\beta$, $\gamma$, and neutron spectroscopy, the comparative partial half-lives (logft) have been measured for all their dominant $\beta$-decay channels for the first time, including a low-energy Gamow-Teller transition and several First-Forbidden (FF) transitions. Uniquely for such a heavy neutron-rich nucleus, their $\beta$ decays selectively populate only a few isolated neutron unbound states in $^{133}$Sn. Precise energy and branching-ratio measurements of those resonances allow us to benchmark $\beta$-decay theories at an unprecedented level in this region of the nuclear chart. The results show good agreement with the newly developed large-scale shell model (LSSM) calculations. The experimental findings establish an archetype for the $\beta$ decay of neutron-rich nuclei southeast of $^{132}$Sn and will serve as a guide for future theoretical development aiming to describe accurately the key $\beta$ decays in the rapid-neutron capture (r-) process

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

Compound-Nucleus and Doorway-State Decays of β-Delayed Neutron Emitters 51,52,53K

International audienceWe investigated decays of K51,52,53 at the ISOLDE Decay Station at CERN in order to understand the mechanism of the β-delayed neutron-emission (βn) process. The experiment quantified neutron and γ-ray emission paths for each precursor. We used this information to test the hypothesis, first formulated by Bohr in 1939, that neutrons in the βn process originate from the structureless “compound nucleus.” The data are consistent with this postulate for most of the observed decay paths. The agreement, however, is surprising because the compound-nucleus stage should not be achieved in the studied β decay due to insufficient excitation energy and level densities in the neutron emitter. In the K53 βn decay, we found a preferential population of the first excited state in Ca52 that contradicted Bohr’s hypothesis. The latter was interpreted as evidence for direct neutron emission sensitive to the structure of the neutron-unbound state. We propose that the observed nonstatistical neutron emission proceeds through the coupling with nearby doorway states that have large neutron-emission probabilities. The appearance of “compound-nucleus” decay is caused by the aggregated small contributions of multiple doorway states at higher excitation energy

Evidence of nonstatistical neutron emission following betabeta decay near doubly magic 132Sn^132Sn

International audienceModels of the β-delayed neutron emission (βn) assume that neutrons are emitted statistically via an intermediate compound nucleus post β decay. Evidence to the contrary was found in an In134β-decay experiment carried out at ISOLDE CERN. Neutron emission probabilities from the unbound states in Sn134 to known low-lying, single-particle states in Sn133 were measured. The neutron energies were determined using the time-of-flight technique, and the subsequent decay of excited states in Sn133 was studied using γ-ray detectors. Individual βn probabilities were determined by correlating the relative intensities and energies of neutrons and γ rays. The experimental data disagree with the predictions of representative statistical models which are based upon the compound nucleus postulate. Our results suggest that violation of the compound nucleus assumption may occur in β-delayed neutron emission. This impacts the neutron-emission probabilities and other properties of nuclei participating in the r-process. A model of neutron emission, which links the observed neutron emission probabilities to nuclear shell effects, is proposed

<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mi>β</mml:mi></mml:math> -delayed neutron emissions from <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>N</mml:mi><mml:mo>&gt;</mml:mo><mml:mn>50</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:math> gallium isotopes

β-delayed γ-neutron spectroscopy has been performed on the decay of A=84 to 87 gallium isotopes at the RI-beam Factory at the RIKEN Nishina Center using a high-efficiency array of He3 neutron counters (BRIKEN). β-2n-γ events were measured in the decays of all of the four isotopes for the first time, which is direct evidence for populating the excited states of two-neutron daughter nuclei. Detailed decay schemes with the γ branching ratios were obtained for these isotopes, and the neutron emission probabilities (Pxn) were updated from the previous study. Hauser-Feshbach statistical model calculations were performed to understand the experimental branching ratios. We found that the P1n and P2n values are sensitive to the nuclear level densities of 1n daughter nuclei and showed that the statistical model reproduced the P2n/P1n ratio better when experimental levels plus shell-model level densities fit by the Gilbert-Cameron formula were used as the level-density input. We also showed the neutron and γ branching ratios are sensitive to the ground-state spin of the parent nucleus. Our statistical model analysis suggested J≤3 for the unknown ground-state spin of the odd-odd nucleus Ga86, from the Iγ(4+→2+)/Iγ(2+→0+) ratio of Ga84 and the P2n/P1n ratio. These results show the necessity of detailed understanding of the decay scheme, including data from neutron spectroscopy, in addition to γ measurements of the multineutron emitters

β-Delayed One and Two Neutron Emission Probabilities Southeast of ^{132}Sn and the Odd-Even Systematics in r-Process Nuclide Abundances.

The β-delayed one- and two-neutron emission probabilities (P_{1n} and P_{2n}) of 20 neutron-rich nuclei with N≥82 have been measured at the RIBF facility of the RIKEN Nishina Center. P_{1n} of ^{130,131}Ag, ^{133,134}Cd, ^{135,136}In, and ^{138,139}Sn were determined for the first time, and stringent upper limits were placed on P_{2n} for nearly all cases. β-delayed two-neutron emission (β2n) was unambiguously identified in ^{133}Cd and ^{135,136}In, and their P_{2n} were measured. Weak β2n was also detected from ^{137,138}Sn. Our results highlight the effect of the N=82 and Z=50 shell closures on β-delayed neutron emission probability and provide stringent benchmarks for newly developed macroscopic-microscopic and self-consistent global models with the inclusion of a statistical treatment of neutron and γ emission. The impact of our measurements on r-process nucleosynthesis was studied in a neutron star merger scenario. Our P_{1n} and P_{2n} have a direct impact on the odd-even staggering of the final abundance, improving the agreement between calculated and observed Solar System abundances. The odd isotope fraction of Ba in r-process-enhanced (r-II) stars is also better reproduced using our new data

Detailed structure of <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mmultiscripts><mml:mi>Sn</mml:mi><mml:mprescripts/><mml:none/><mml:mn>131</mml:mn></mml:mmultiscripts></mml:math> populated in the <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mi>β</mml:mi></mml:math> decay of isomerically purified <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mmultiscripts><mml:mi>In</mml:mi><mml:mprescripts/><mml:none/><mml:mn>131</mml:mn></mml:mmultiscripts></mml:math> states

The excited structure of the single-hole nucleus Sn131 populated by the β− decay of In131 was investigated in detail at the ISOLDE facility at CERN. This new experiment took advantage of isomeric purification capabilities provided by resonant ionization, making it possible to independently study the decay of each isomer for the first time. The position of the first-excited νh11/2 neutron-hole state was confirmed via an independent mass spectroscopy experiment performed at the Ion Guide Isotope Separator On-Line facility at the University of Jyväskylä. The level scheme of Sn131 was notably expanded with the addition of 31 new γ-ray transitions and 22 new excited levels. The γ-emitting excited levels above the neutron separation energy in Sn131 were investigated, revealing a large number of states, which in some cases decay by transitions to other neutron-unbound states. Our analysis showed the dependence between the population of these states in Sn131 and the β-decaying In131 state feeding them. Profiting from the isomer selectivity, it was possible to estimate the direct β feeding to the 3/2+ ground and 11/2− isomeric states, disentangling the contributions from the three indium parent states. This made possible to resolve the discrepancies in logft for first-forbidden transitions observed in previous studies, and to determine the β-delayed neutron decay probability (Pn) values of each indium isomers independently. The first measurement of subnanosecond lifetimes in Sn131 was performed in this work. A short T1/2=18(4)−ps value was measured for the 1/2+ neutron single-hole 332-keV state, which indicates an enhanced l-forbidden M1 behavior for the ν3s1/2−1→ν3d3/2−1 transition. The measured half-lives of high-energy states populated in the β decay of the (21/2+) second isomeric state (In131m2) provided valuable information on transition rates, supporting the interpretation of these levels as core-excited states analogous to those observed in the doubly-magic Sn132. Published by the American Physical Society 2024 </jats:sec