Total absorption gamma-ray spectroscopy study of the β-decay of 186Hg

7 pags., 9 figs., 1 tab.The Gamow-Teller strength distribution of the decay of Hg into Au has been determined for the first time using the total absorption gamma spectroscopy technique and has been compared with theoretical QRPA calculations using the SLy4 Skyrme force. The measured Gamow-Teller strength distribution and the half-life are described by mixing oblate and prolate configurations independently in the parent and daughter nuclei. In this theoretical framework the best description of the experimental beta strength is obtained with dominantly prolate components for both parent Hg and daughter Au. The approach also allowed us to determine an upper limit of the oblate component in the parent state. The complexity of the analysis required the development of a new approach in the analysis of the X-ray gated total absorption spectrum.This work was supported by Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad under grants FPA2011-24553, FPA2014-52823-C2-1-P, FPA2017-83946-C2-1-P, FPA2017-87568-P, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación grants PID2019-104714GB-C21 and RTI2018-098868-B-100, program Severo Ochoa (SEV-2014-0398), ENSAR (grant 262010) and by the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No. 654002. S.E.A.O. thanks the support of CPAN Consolider-Ingenio 2010 Programme CSD2007-00042 grant. E.G. acknowledges support from TÜBITAK 2219 Abroad Research Fellowship Programme. R.B.C. acknowledges support by the Max-Planck-Partner group. Support from the technical staff and engineers of ISOLDE-CERN is acknowl- edged. W.G. acknowledges the support of STFC (UK) council grant ST/P005314/1. V.G. acknowledges the support of the National Science Center, Poland, under Contract No. 2019/35/D/ST2/02081. This work was also supported by the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund of Hungary, financed under the K18 funding scheme with Projects No. K 128729 and NN128072. P.S. acknowledges support from MCI/AEI/FEDER, UE (Spain) under grant PGC2018-093636-B-I0

β-delayed γ-proton decay in 56Zn: analysis of the charged-particle spectrum

A study of the beta decay of the proton-rich T-z = 2 nucleus Zn-56 has been reported in a recent publication. A rare and exotic decay mode, beta-delayed gamma-proton decay, has been observed there for the first time in the fp shell. Here, we expand on some of the details of the data analysis, focussing on the charged particle spectrum

Spectroscopy of 91Zr51 at medium to high spins

Identification of near-yrast states in the β-stable nucleus 91Zr51 has been carried out using the fusion evaporation reaction, 82Se(13C,4n)91Zr at an incident beam energy of 50 MeV. States above the reported r = 6 μs, Iπ = 21/2+ isomeric level at Ex = 3167 keV have been identified for the first time in this work, a tentative decay scheme of near-yrast states to excitation energies in excess of 10 MeV has been constructed. These states are of relevance to shell model structures formed via limited valence-space configurations in this semi-magic N = 51 nucleus

Beta decay of the Tz=-2 nucleus 64Se and its descendants

International audience; The beta decay of the Tz=-2 nucleus 64Se has been studied in a fragmentation reaction at RIKEN-Nishina Center. 64Se is the heavies Tz=-2 nucleus that decays to bound states in the daughter nucleus and the heaviest case where the mirror reaction 64Zn(3He,t)64Ga on the Tz=+2 64Zn stable target exists and can be compared. Beta-delayed gamma and proton radiation is reported for the 64Se and 64As cases. New levels have been observed in 64As, 64Ge (N=Z), 63Ge and 63Ga. The associated T1/2 values have been obtained

Total absorption gamma-ray spectroscopy study of the beta-decay of Hg-186

The Gamow-Teller strength distribution of the decay of Hg-186 into Au-186 has been determined for the first time using the total absorption gamma spectroscopy technique and has been compared with theoretical QRPA calculations using the SLy4 Skyrme force. The measured Gamow-Teller strength distribution and the half-life are described by mixing oblate and prolate configurations independently in the parent and daughter nuclei. In this theoretical framework the best description of the experimental beta strength is obtained with dominantly prolate components for both parent Hg-186 and daughter Au-186. The approach also allowed us to determine an upper limit of the oblate component in the parent state. The complexity of the analysis required the development of a new approach in the analysis of the X-ray gated total absorption spectrum. (C) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V

New test of modulated electron capture decay of hydrogen-like 142Pm ions: Precision measurement of purely exponential decay

An experiment addressing electron capture (EC) decay of hydrogen-like 142Pm60+ions has been conducted at the experimental storage ring (ESR) at GSI. The decay appears to be purely exponential and no modulations were observed. Decay times for about 9000 individual EC decays have been measured by applying the single-ion decay spectroscopy method. Both visually and automatically analysed data can be described by a single exponential decay with decay constants of 0.0126(7)s−1for automatic analysis and 0.0141(7)s−1for manual analysis. If a modulation superimposed on the exponential decay curve is assumed, the best fit gives a modulation amplitude of merely 0.019(15), which is compatible with zero and by 4.9 standard deviations smaller than in the original observation which had an amplitude of 0.23(4)

Shell structure, emerging collectivity, and valence p-n interactions

The structure of atomic nuclei depends on the interactions of its constituents, protons and neutrons. These interactions play a key role in the development of configuration mixing and in the onset of collectivity and deformation, in changes to the single particle energies and magic numbers, and in the microscopic origins of phase transitional behavior. Particularly important are the valence proton-neutron interactions which can be studied experimentally using double differences of binding energies extracted from high-precision mass measurements. The resulting quantities, called δVpn, are average interaction strengths between the last two protons and the last two neutrons. Focusing on the Z=50-82, N=82-126 shells, we have considered a number of aspects of these interactions, ranging from their relation to the underlying orbits, their behaviour near close shells and throughout major shells, their relation to the onset of collectivity and deformation, and the appearance of unexpected spikes in δVpn values for a special set of heavy nuclei with nearly equal numbers of valence protons and neutrons. We have calculated spatial overlaps between proton and neutron Nilsson orbits and compared these with the experimental results. Finally we also address the relation between masses (separation energies), changes in structure and valence nucleon number

Investigation into the B ( E 2) anomaly in 144 Nd using Coulomb excitation

The ratio of B(E2) strengths between the lowest lying members of the ground state band in Nd144, B4/2=B(E2;41+?21+)/B(E2;21+?01+), which is used to quantify collectivity in nonmagic nuclei, has been remeasured by means of Coulomb excitation. Ambiguities in literature values for this ratio have been resolved. The results are discussed in terms of the interplay of collective and single-particle degrees of freedom, and in the context of the formation of collective structures in the A=140 mass region, and more generally near (sub)shell closures. In addition, the B4/2 ratio of Sm148 has been remeasured, and the quadrupole moment of the 41+ state is found to be on the order of 1eb. � 2008 The American Physical Society

Mass measurements of neutron-rich isotopes near N=20N=20 by in-trap decay with the ISOLTRAP spectrometer

The masses of $^{34}$Si, $^{33,34}$Mg, and $^{34}$Al have been measured with the ISOLTRAP Penning-trap spectrometer at ISOLDE/CERN. The results are in agreement with previous mass measurements and uncertainties have been decreased. The mass of $^{34}$Al was determined in two configurations, one following direct production by the ISOLDE facility, favoring the 4− state, expected to be the ground state, second by in-trap decay of $^{34}$Mg, followed by recoil-ion trapping, favoring the production of the isomeric 1+ state. A position-sensitive detector was used to clean the ToF-ICR resonance. In addition, the mass of the refractory doubly magic $^{34}$Si nucleus was directly measured, using the in-trap decay of $^{34}$Mg, following two sequential recoil-ion captures. The approach, challenges and conclusions are discussed