Investigation of parity mixing in Ta and Lu by measurement of the circular polarization of γ-rays

The circular polarization of the 482 keV γ-radiation of ¹⁸¹Ta and the 343 keV γ-radiation of ¹⁷⁵Lu was measured with a Compton polarimeter. Spurious effects arising from higher order contributions of quantum electrodynamics to the Compton scattering cross section were discovered. The results for the polarization are P = − (4.1±1.3)10⁻⁶ for ¹⁸¹Ta and P = − (1.5±6.0)10⁻⁶ for ¹⁷⁵Lu. These values are corrected for instrument asymmetries, bremsstrahlung and intensity of other lines.     

Alpha decay of Cm

An enriched sample of ²⁴⁷Cm (99.4 %) has been used to investigate the -decay scheme of ²⁴⁷Cm. Seven -groups with energies and intensities 5.265 (13.8 %), 5.210 (5.7 %), 5.145 (1.2 %), 4.983 (2.0 %), 4.941 (1.6 %), 4.868 (71.0 %) and 4.818 (4.7 %) were observed. Gamma-singles and γ coincidence spectra showed the presence of 278.0, 287.5, 346.0 and 402.4 keV γ-rays. A two-parameter coincidence experiment established that the sources of the 402.4 and the 287.5 keV γ-rays were 4.868 and 4.983 MeV -groups, respectively. The multipolarity of the 287.5 keV transition was found to be M1. The K conversion coefficient of the 402.4 keV γ-ray indicates an E1 multipolarity for this transition. The levels at 287.5 and 402.4 keV have been assigned to the and Nilsson states, respectively. The half-life of ²⁴⁷Cm was found to be (1.56±0.05) ×10⁷ y from the pulse analysis and mass spectrometric analysis of the sample.     

Rotational excitations in residual nuclei produced by stopped negative pions on targets of Ho, Lu, Lu, Hf, and Ta

Reactions produced by stopped negative pions on targets of ¹⁶⁵Ho, ¹⁷⁵Lu, ¹⁷⁶Lu, ¹⁷⁹Hf, and ¹⁸¹Ta are investigated by measuring photons coincident with the stopped pions. These photons were detected with an 80 cm³ Ge(Li) detector and identified as pionic X-rays or rotational γ-rays from the residual nuclei. Pion capture is found to result in the excitation of high-spin states. Yields for the residual nuclei are inferred from the observed γ-transitions and compared to calculations based on the exciton model for pre-equilibrium emission followed by particle evaporation. Preliminary results of a pion stop, γn coincidence experiment are presented and compared to the calculations.     

Two-quasiparticle states in Ho

Thirty-one levels in ¹⁶⁴Ho have been observed up to an excitation energy of 994 keV utilizing 12 MeV deuterons and the reaction ¹⁶⁵Ho(d, t)¹⁶⁴Ho. The ground state Q-value was determined to be −1730±15 keV. The spectrum has been interpreted in terms of the coupling of the [523↑] Nilsson proton orbital with the neutron orbitals prominent in the (d, t) spectrum of ¹⁶³Dy. Based on this interpretation, the singlet-triplet splitting energies for the [523↓], [642↑], [521↑], [402↓] and [400↑] neutron orbitals coupled to the [523↑] proton orbital were determined to be −144, +67, +171, −85 and +102 keV, respectively. Theoretical calculations of these energies made for a zero-range spin-dependent central potential gave values of −248, +74, +160, −82 and +73 keV, respectively.     

Collective properties of Cr

The mean lifetimes of levels below 3 MeV excitation in ⁴⁹Cr were measured using the reaction ⁴⁹Ti(, nγ)⁴⁹Cr. The Doppler-shift attenuation method was used in a neutron-gamma coincidence measurement. The lifetime of the first excited state was determined with the recoil distance method. The results are : 272 keV, 19±5 ps; 1085 keV, 260±90 fs; 1563 keV, 590₋₁₂₀⁺³⁰⁰ fs; 1704 keV, > 5.5 ps; 1742 keV, > 4 ps; 1982 keV, > 6.5 ps; 2169 keV, > 4.5 ps; 2433 keV, > 6 ps; 2504 keV, < 12 fs; 2614 keV, 65 ±20 fs. The lifetimes of the second and third excited states in combination with known multipole mixing ratios gave evidence for spin assignments of for the 1085 keV level and for the 1563 keV level. The energies and spins of the four lowest levels as well as the B(M1) and B(E2) values of their γ-decays are in good agreement with calculations based on the strong coupling model and suggest that these levels are strongly collective. Dipole transitions of the higher levels to the ground and first excited states are highly retarded.     

The nature of 0 excitations in Er

Lifetimes of excited 0⁺ states in ¹⁶⁶Er have been measured with the (n,n′γ) reaction. The first and second excited 0⁺ states have no significant collective enhancements of their decays, and their properties are suggestive of pair-type excitations rather than those of a β vibration or phonon excitation built on the γ vibration. The third excited 0⁺ state at 1934 keV has an enhanced decay to the ground state band with B(E2; 0₄⁺ → 2_gsb⁺) = 8.8 ± 0.9 W.u., consistent with that expected for a β vibration.     

Spin-dependent reaction mechanism in Ti(d, p)Ti from proton-γ correlation

The γ-decays of the states in ⁴⁷Ti at 157 keV and 1547 keV have been studied following the ⁴⁶Ti(d, p)⁴⁷Ti reaction at 5.0 MeV incident energy. Protons were detected at 0° with a semiconductor detector. The angular correlations of the γ-rays with the reaction protons were measured. The E2/M1 mixing ratios of the γ-decays and the population ratios of the to the substates were deduced. From the non-zero population of the substate it was concluded that a spin-flip mechanism exists in the ⁴⁶Ti(d, p)⁴⁷Ti stripping reaction.     

Energy levels of Kr populated by Br decay

The γ-rays following the β-decay of ⁸²Br have been investigated using a 220 mm³ Ge(Li) detector, an anti-Compton NaI(Tl) spectrometer and a two-dimensional coincidence arrangement. The ⁸²Br was produced by thermal neutron activation of ammonium bromide. The presence of eight, well-known and 11 weak γ-rays has been established. It has been shown through half-life measurements that the newly identified γ-rays belong to ⁸²Br decay and that the high-energy peaks are not to summing effects. All the reported transitions have been incorporated in a level scheme of ⁸²Kr by introducing levels at 0, 776, 1474, 1820, 1953, 2093, 2426, 2554, 2647 and 2828 keV. Limits on probable spin and parity values for the newly-introduced levels have been established. The level introduced at 2828 keV on the basis of a 1008–1043 keV γγ-coincidence must be fed by a weak β-branch of ⁸²Br with an end-point energy of 263 keV and log ft of approximately 6.1.     

Isomerism in Ag and non-yrast levels in Pd and Rh, studied in β decay

The β decay of ⁹⁶Ag (Z=47,N=49) was investigated by measuring positrons, X rays as well as β-delayed protons and γ rays. The γ radiation was studied by means of germanium detectors and a NaI total-absorption spectrometer. Two β-decaying isomers in ⁹⁶Ag were established with half-lives of 4.40(6) and 6.9(6) s and tentative spin–parity assignments of (8⁺) and (2⁺), respectively. For both isomers, the intensities of β transitions to low-lying levels of ⁹⁶Pd (Z=46,N=50) and β-delayed proton decays to levels in ⁹⁵Rh (Z=45,N=50) were measured. Several new ⁹⁶Pd levels were firmly established. The level energies, their γ decays and the Gamow–Teller decay of ⁹⁶Ag are compared to shell-model predictions. A new low-lying level in ⁹⁵Rh was found at 680 keV excitation energy. Through a comparison with low-lying states of N=50 isotones, this level is interpreted as the first excited 7/2⁺ state built on the proton 9/2⁺ ground state. The assignments of further excited states in ⁹⁵Rh are discussed.     

Triaxial superdeformation in Lu

High-spin states in ¹⁶³Lu have been investigated using the Euroball spectrometer array. The previously known superdeformed band has been extended at low and high energies, and its connection to the normal-deformed states has been established. From its decay the mixing amplitude and interaction strength between superdeformed and normal states are derived. In addition, a new band with a similar dynamic moment of inertia has been found. The experimental results are compared to cranking calculations which suggest that the superdeformed bands in this mass region correspond to shapes with a pronounced triaxiality (γ≈±20°).     

Decay of Ru, Zr and Nb

The decay of ⁹⁷Ru, ⁹⁷zr and ⁹⁷Nb to levels in ⁹⁷Tc, ⁹⁷Nb and ⁹⁷Mo has been studied with Ge(Li), NaI(Tl), plastic scintillation, and Si (Li) detectors in singles and coincidence experiments. Level schemes were constructed with states in ⁹⁷Te at 96.5, 215.2, 324.4, (560), 785.5, 856 and 971 keV; in ⁹⁷Nb at 743.5, 1148.6, 1251.4, 1276.6, 1549.2, 1751.2, 1764.0, 1852.0, 2106.9 and 2247 keV; and in ⁹⁷Mo at 656.0, 1022.0, 1274.5 and 1514 keV. From β-endpoint energies, disintegration energies of ⁹⁷Zr and ⁹⁷Nb were determined to be 2580 ± 50 keV and 1830 ± 50 keV, respectively. Decay scheme considerations and an upper limit to the β⁺/ec ratio established the disintegration energy of ⁹⁷Ru to be about 1100 keV. Neither the effective-interaction method nor the pairing-correlation model accounts for the experimentally determined levels in mass-97 nuclei.     

Quadrupole interactions in pionic and muonic tantalum and rhenium

The hyperfine splitting of pionic and muonic X-rays in natural Re has been studied using the known ratio (accurate to 1.6 parts in 10⁵) of the quadrupole moments of the two naturally occurring ¹⁸⁵Re and ¹⁸⁷Re isotopes. From the hyperfine splitting of the ⁵g → 4f and 4f → 3d pionic X-rays the effective quadrupole hyperfine constants were determined to be ¹⁸⁷A₂^eff(4f) = 1.163 ± 0.010 keV and ¹⁸⁷A₂^eff(3d) = 5.39 ± 0.63 keV, giving strong interaction quadrupole shifts ₂(4f) = 46 ± 10 eV and ₂(3d) = 1.3 ± 0.6 keV. The strong interaction monopole shifts ₀ and widths Γ₀ of the 5g, 4f and 3d levels have also been measured. For the two higher orbits, standard optical-potential calculations fit the measured shifts and widths quite well. The observed deeper-lying 3d state, however, has shifts and widths that differ by a factor of 2 or more from the predictions. From the measured quadrupole hyperfine constants of the 4f level we calculate the spectroscopic quadrupole moments to be ¹⁸⁷Q^μ(gm) = 2.09 ± 0.04 b, ¹⁸⁷Q^π = 2.07 ± 0.02 b, ¹⁸⁵Q^μ = 2.21 ± 0.04 b, and ¹⁸⁵Q^π = 2.1 addition, muonic X-rays from ¹⁸¹Ta were observed; using the same methods for determining the quadrupole moment as above, a value of ¹⁸¹Q^μ = 3.28 ± 0.06 b was obtained, in good agreement with earlier published data.     

Search for parity violation in the 1081 keV gamma transition of F

The weak neutral current results in a parity-violating one-pion-exchange potential in nuclei. A search for this force has been carried out with the 1081 keV γ-radiation of ¹⁸F, which is expected to be circularly polarized. Excited ¹⁸F nuclei were produced with the ¹⁶O(³He, p)¹⁸F reaction and the γ-ray polarization was measured with a multiple transmission polarimeter system. The experimental result P = (− 1.0 ± 1.8) × 10⁻³ is smaller than recent theoretical estimates.     

K, L and M electron directional correlations in Te

Directional correlations of the cascade in ¹²³Te involving K, L and M electrons from the 89 keV M4 transition have been measured in order to determine the δ(E2/M1) value for the 159 keV transition. The result agrees with that from older correlation measurements, but is in conflict with values derived from Coulomb excitation and lifetime measurements as well as from L subshell ratios.     

New evidence for a subshell gap at N=32

An 879.9(2) keV γ-ray transition has been identified following the β decay of ⁵⁸V and assigned as the 2⁺₁→0⁺₁ transition in ⁵⁸Cr₃₄. A peak in the energies of the first excited 2⁺ states for the even–even chromium isotopes is now evident at ⁵⁶Cr₃₂, providing empirical evidence for a significant subshell gap at N=32. The appearance of this neutron subshell closure for neutron-rich nuclides may be attributed to the diminished π1f_7/2–ν1f_5/2 monopole proton–neutron interaction as protons are removed from the 1f_7/2 single-particle orbital.     

The decay of 1.2 min Ag and 5.3 h Ag

The decay schemes of 1.2 min and 5.3 h ¹¹³Ag have been studied using Ge(Li) and NaI(Tl) detectors and a 4096-channel multiparameter pulse-height analyser system. The decay of 5.3 h ¹¹³Ag was found to involve 15 γ-rays and to produce 10 excited states in ¹¹³Cd at energies of 264.7, 298.0, 315.6, 583.9, 604.6, 681.1, 883.6, 936.9, 989.0 and 1195.2 keV. The italicized energies refer to negative parity states, through which 1.3% of the decays go to yield the isomer at 264.7 keV. The 604.6 keV level is thought to be a case|9/2⁻ level similar for those found in several odd-mass Te and Xe isotopes. The 1.2 min ^113mAg decay was found to populate several of the same levels in Cd and two additional levels at 452 and 689 keV. The 1.2 min ¹¹³Ag is the upper isomer with high spin, probably .     

The Fermi matrix elements inferred from β-γ(CP) correlation measurements in Fe decay

Measurements have been made of the β-γ circular-polarization correlation paramter A for the 273 keV β-branch in the decay of ⁵⁹Fe. It has recently been established that each of the principal β-branches of ⁵⁹Fe involves ΔJ=0 and thus has a possible non-zero Fermi matrix element M_F which can be determined from the ƒt value and A. Previous β-γ (_CP) measurements on this nucleide have all employed the usual γ-ray scattering technique. This method is suitable for the 475 keV β-branch but does not produce an accurate measurement of the lower energy branch because of energy discrimination difficulties. A transmission polarimeter with γ-discrimination has been used in the present work to obtain clean data on the 273 keV β-1.29 MeV γ-cascade. Calibration with ⁶⁰Co (1.33 MeV) and ²⁸Al (1.79 MeV) yielded A = −0.154±0.023. This gives for the isospin impurity coefficient and the effective Coulomb matrix element of the 1.29 MeV state (1.1±1.4) × 10⁻³ and 9±11 keV, respectively.     

The decay scheme of Ag

The γ-radiations following the decay of ¹¹²Ag have been studied with Ge(Li) detectors. The ¹¹²Ag half-life has been measured as 3.16±0.02 h; twenty gamma radiations ranging in energy from 606.7 keV to 2829.6 keV have been observed.

Gamma-gamma coincidence measurements have been performed with Ge(Li) and NaI(Tl) detectors. A decay scheme consistent with the present data is proposed.     

Polarisation circulaire du rayonnement gamma de Sb, Cs et Ag

The βγ circular polarization correlation of the 3⁻(β⁻ 621 keV)3⁻(γ 1692)2⁺ cascade in ¹²⁴Sb, the 4⁺(β⁻ 662)4⁺ (γ 796)2⁺ (γ 605)0⁺ in ^13Z4Cs and the 6⁺(β⁻529)6⁺ (γ 937)4⁺ (γ 885)2⁺ (γ 658)0⁺ in ^110mAg have been studied by using a Compton effect polarimeter. The measured asymmetry parameters are 0.172±0.004, −0.0702 ±0.0024 and 0.0549±0.0013 respectively.     

The decay of Sc and V

The decays of ⁴⁸Sc and ⁴⁸V have been studied with Ge(Li) diodes, scintillation spectrometers and a double focussing beta-ray spectrometer. The 3507 keV level, from which originates the quadruple cascade (9.4±0.5)% in the ⁴⁸Sc decay, is also de-excited by a 1212 keV cross-over transition to the 2295 keV (4⁺) level and supports the assumption, that the 3507 keV level has a spin 6⁺. The first member of the reported triple cascade in the ⁴⁸V decay is shown to be a doublet of 928.9±0.7 (1.2±0.2)% and 944.3±0.5 keV (8.0±0.5)% gamma rays, both followed by the 1311.4–983.3 keV cascade. Evidence was found, that the 2421 keV (2⁺) level is excited by weak gamma rays from high-energy levels. The K/β⁺ ration in the ⁴⁸V decay is 0.69±0.05 The Q-values of ⁴⁸Sc and ⁴⁸V are calculated to be 3986±7 keV and if 4015±4 keV, respectively. The energy of the gamma ray of ⁴⁷Sc, which is present as an impurity, is 159.2±0.5 keV.