Properties of the β-delayed proton decay of ~(146)Ho

The proton-rich isotope 146Ho was produced via the fusion-evaporation reaction 92Mo (58Ni, 3p1n). The β-delayed proton decay of 146Ho was studied by proton-γ coincidence measurements using a He-jet tape transport system. The γ-transitions in 145Tb following the proton emissions were observed, and the β-delayed proton branching ratios to the final states in the grand-daughter nucleus 145Tb were determined. According to the relative branching ratios, the ground-state spin of 146Ho has been proposed and the possible configuration discussed.     

Properties of the β-delayed proton decay of 146Ho

The proton-rich isotope 146Ho was produced via the fusion-evaporation reaction ^92Mo （^58Ni, 3p1n）. The β-delayed proton decay of 146Ho was studied by proton-γ coincidence measurements using a He-jet tape transport system. The γ-transitions in ^145Tb following the proton emissions were observed, and the β-delayed proton branching ratios to the final states in the grand-daughter nucleus ^145Tb were determined. According to the relative branching ratios, the ground-state spin of 146Ho has been proposed and the possible configuration discussed.     

An Implantation and Detection System for Spectroscopy of 22,24Si

A new decay detection system with high detection efficiency and low detection threshold has been developed for charged-particle decay studies, including -delayed proton, decay or direct proton emission from proton-rich nuclei. The detection system was tested by using the -delayed proton emitter 24Si and was commissioned in the decay study of 22Si produced by projectile fragmentation at the First Radioactive Ion Beam Line in Lanzhou. Under a continuous-beam mode, the isotopes of interest were implanted into two double-sided silicon strip detectors, where the subsequent decays were measured and correlated to the preceding implantations by using position and time information. The system allows to measure protons with energies down to about 200 keV without obvious background in the proton spectrum. Further application of the detection system can be extended to the measurements of -delayed proton decay and the direct proton emission of other exotic proton-rich nuclei.     

β-delayed Multi-particle Emission From 31Ar

The β+ decay of 31Ar was investigated in an experiment at the GSI-FRS spectrometer.The ions of interest have been produced in the fragmentation of a 36Ar beam at 880 MeV/nucleon and implanted in a time projection chamber with optical readout. In addition to β -delayed one and two proton emission, for the first time the emission of -delayed 3 protons has been observed. The branching ratio for this decay mode is found to be (0.07 ± 0.02)%.     

Properties of the β-Delayed Proton Decay of 147Er

The β-delayed proton decay of 147Er is studied experimentally using the 58 Ni＋92Mo reaction at a beam energy of 383 MeV. Based on a He-jet apparatus coupled with a tape transport system, the β-delayed proton radioactivities both from the vδl/2 ground state and the vh11/2 isomer in 147 Er are identified by proton-7 coincidence measurements. By analyzing the time distribution of the 4＋ → 2＋-γ transition in the grand-daughter nucleus 146Dy, a half-life of 1.6 ± 0.2s is determined for the Vh11/2 isomer in 147 Er. The half-life for the ground state of 147Er is estimated to be 3.2±1.2 s.     

Beta Decay of Neutron—Rich Nucleus ^208Hg

The β- decaying γ scheme of the neutron-rich nuclide 208Hg has been determined for the first time.The 208 Hg was produced in multi-nucleon transfer reaction taking place in the bombardment of 18O-beam on natural lead target,and the Hg-element products were sepaated with a gas-thermochromatography technique.The γ-ray single and γ-γ coincident spectra were measured.A partial 208 Hg γ scheme was proposed.Twenty-six γ rays were assigned to follow the β- decay of 208Hg.At the same time,a new level structure of the daughter nucleus 208 T1 was constructed,in which three new levels at 1.725MeV.1.652MeV,and 1.362MeV were affirmed.The experimental 208Tl level structure was compared with a shell-model calculation.     

β-decay studies of the neutron-rich ~(18,21)N isotopes

The β-decay studies of neutron-rich 18,21N isotopes have been performed using β-n, β-γ, and β-n-γ coincidence methods. The 18,21N ions were produced by the fragmentation of the 22Ne and 26Mg beams, respectively, on a thick beryllium target. The time of flight of the emitted neutrons following the β-decay of 18,21N was measured by a neutron detector system with wide energy detection range and low-energy detection threshold. In addition, several clover germanium detectors were used to detect the β-delayed γ-r...     

Investigation of the anomaly in $\eta$-photoproduction off the neutron

Quasi-free photoproduction of wmesons off the neutron and off the proton has been studied using a deuterium target and bremsstrahlung photons produced by MAMI-C with incident energies up to 1.5 GeV. The wmesons were detected in coincidence with the recoil nucleons thus a fully exclusive measurement was performed. Preliminary results show a bump-like structure in the excitation function for the neutron close to W ≈ 1675 MeV which is not seen for the proton. Considering the experimental resolution and using a Breit-Wigner fit the width of this structure was approximated below 50 MeV.     

New Levels in ^118Pd Observed in the β Decay of Very Neutron-Rich ^118Rh Isotope

We investigate the β decay of very neutron-rich ^118Rh isotope using on-line mass-separated sources which are produced by applying 25 MeV proton induced symmetric fission of natural uranium at the IGISOL facility. The β-γ and γ-γ coincidence spectroscopy is employed to establish the level scheme of daughter nucleus ^118Pd. Five low-lying new levels are identified for the first time with tentative spin and parity assignments based on the even-mass Pd systematics.     

Observation of a Possible New Isomer in 175Ir

The neutron deficient nuclide 175Ir was produced by irradiation of 146Nd with 210 MeV 35Cl via a fusion-evaporation reaction channel. The reaction products were transported to a low-background location using a helium-jet recoil fast-moving tape-transport system for measurement. The experimental devices and data analysis method are introduced. Based on the decay-curve fitting of the β-delayed γ ray from 175Ir, realized by the least-square method, a new long-lived isomeric state of 175Ir is proposed and briefly discussed.     

β-delayed proton decay of the proton drip-line nucleus142Ho in the rare-earth region

New β-delayed proton precursor¹⁴²Ho was produced via heavy ion induced reaction¹⁰⁶Cd(⁴⁰Ca, p3n), and identified for the first time by using a He-jet fast tape transport system in combination with “p-γ” coincidence measurements. The β-delayed proton decay of¹⁴²Ho was observed and its half life was determined to be (0.4±0.1) s. By fitting the experimental relative branching ratios to final states in the proton daughter nucleus¹⁴¹Tb and the energy spectrum of β-delayed protons with a statistical model calculation, the ground-state spin of¹⁴²Ho was assigned as 5, 6 or 7. Nuclear energy-potential-surface (EPS) calculations were performed using the Woods-Saxon Strutinsky method. The calculated results favored the assignments of 7⁻ to¹⁴²Ho. As the by-products, some γ-transitions in the proton daughter nuclei following the β-delayed proton decays of precursors¹³⁹Gd,¹⁴⁰Tb,¹⁴²Tb, and¹⁴³Dy were reported here for the first time.     

β-delayed proton decays near the proton drip line

We briefly reviewed the experimental study on β-delayed proton decays near the proton drip line published by our group during the period of 1996–2004, namely the first observation of the β-delayed proton decays of 9 new nuclides in the rare-earth region and the new measurements of β-delayed proton decays of 5 nuclides in the mass ∼90 region near theN=Z line with the aid of the “p-y” coincidence in combination with a He-jet tape transport system. In the meantime some important experimental technique details were supplemented. The experimental results, including the half-lives, spins, parities, deformations and production reaction cross sections for the 14 nuclei were summarized and compared with the current nuclear-model predictions, and then the following points were represented. (1) The experimental half-lives for⁸⁵Mo and⁹²Rh as well as the predicted “waiting point” nuclei⁸⁹Ru and⁹³Pd are 5–10 times longer than the theoretical predictions given by M?ller et al. using a macroscopic-microscopic model. It considerably influences the predictions of the abundances of the nuclides produced in the rp-process. (2) The current-model predictions are not consistent with the experimental assignments of the spins and parities for the proton drip-line nuclei¹⁴²Ho and¹²⁸Pm. However, the nuclear potential energy surface (PES) calculated by using a Woods-Saxon-Strutinsky method reproduced the experimental results. (3) The Alice code overestimated the production reaction cross sections of the studied 9 rare-earth nuclei by one order of magnitude or two, while HIVAP code overestimated them by one order of magnitude approximately.     

β-delayed proton decays and spin assignments for 140Tb, 141Dy and 143Dy

The proton-rich isotopes ¹⁴⁰Tb and ¹⁴¹Dy were produced via the fusion evaporation reaction ⁴⁰Ca + ¹⁰⁶Cd. Their β-delayed proton decays were studied by p-γ coincidence in combination with a He-jet tape transport system, and half-lives, proton energy spectra, γ-transitions following the proton emission, as well as β-delayed proton branching ratios to the low-lying states in the grand-daughter nuclei were determined. Comparing the experimental data with statistical model calculations, the ground-state spins of ¹⁴⁰Tb and ¹⁴¹Dy were found to be consistent with 7 and 9/2, respectively. The configuration-constrained nuclear potential energy surfaces (NPES) of ¹⁴⁰Tb and ¹⁴¹Dy were calculated using the Woods-Saxon-Strutinsky method, which suggest the ground-state spins and parities of ¹⁴⁰Tb and ¹⁴¹Dy to be 7⁺ and 9/2^-, respectively. In addition, the configuration-constrained NPES of ¹⁴³Dy were calculated, which predict a 1/2⁺ ground state and a 11/2^- isomer with excitation energy of 198keV. These findings are consistent with our previous experimental data on ¹⁴³Dy reported in Eur. Phys. J. A 16, 347 (2003).     

New type of asymmetric fission in proton-rich nuclei

A very exotic process of β-delayed fission of 180Tl is studied in detail by using resonant laser ionization with subsequent mass separation at ISOLDE (CERN). In contrast to common expectations, the fission-fragment mass distribution of the post-β-decay daughter nucleus 180Hg (N/Z=1.25) is asymmetric. This asymmetry is more surprising since a mass-symmetric split of this extremely neutron-deficient nucleus would lead to two 90Zr fragments, with magic N=50 and semimagic Z=40. This is a new type of asymmetric fission, not caused by large shell effects related to fragment magic proton and neutron numbers, as observed in the actinide region. The newly measured branching ratio for β-delayed fission of 180Tl is 3.6(7) × 10(-3)%, approximately 2 orders of magnitude larger than in an earlier study.     

Nonmesonic decay of the Λ-hyperon in hypernuclei produced by p + Au collisions

The β-delayed proton precursor ¹⁴⁹Yb was synthesized in the reaction ¹¹²Sn(⁴⁰Ca, 3n) and identified by using a proton-gamma coincidence measurements in combination with a helium-jet fast tape transport system. Its β-delayed proton spectrum was observed. The half-life of ¹⁴⁹Yb was determined to be 0.7±0.2 s. The 253, 101, and 365 keV γ transitions in ¹⁴⁷Dy, following β-delayed proton emission of ¹⁴⁸Ho decay, were reported for the first time. Received: 14 March 2001 / Accepted: 26 September 2001     

Half-lives of ground and isomeric states in Cd and the astrophysical origin of Ru

First experimental evidence for a high-spin isomer (25/²⁺$25/2^{+}$) in ⁹⁷Cd, a waiting point in the astrophysical rapid proton capture process, is presented. The data were obtained in β-decay studies at NSCL using the new RF Fragment Separator system and detecting β-delayed protons and β-delayed γ rays. Decays from ground and isomeric states were disentangled, and proton emission branches were determined for the first time. We find half-lives of 1.10(8) s and 3.8(2) s, and β-delayed proton emission branches of 12(2)% and 25(4)% were deduced for the ground and isomeric states, respectively. With these results, the nuclear data needed to determine an rp-process contribution to the unknown origin of solar ⁹⁶Ru are in place. When the new data are included in astrophysical rp-process calculations, one finds that an rp-process origin of ⁹⁶Ru is unlikely.     

Beta-delayed proton emission from heavy nuclei: (I). The observation of coincidences between protons and γ-rays

Coincidences have been detected between γ-rays and β-delayed protons emitted after the decay of very neutron-deficient nuclei. In the three cases studied the decay proceeds to the ground state with branches to the first excited (2⁺) state of the even daughter nucleus of (58±7) % (¹¹⁵Xe to 709 keV in ¹¹⁴Te), (14±3) % (¹¹⁷Xe to 679 keV in ¹¹⁶Te), and (50±10) % (¹⁸¹Hg to 158 keV in ¹⁸⁰Pt). Upper limits of 2 and 6 % can be placed on the branches to the 4⁺ states of ¹¹⁴Te and ¹⁸⁰Pt. For the cases of ^115,117Xe, coincidences with annihilation radiation were also observed; the measured positon/proton ratio determines the difference Q—B_p, between the energy available for electron capture and the proton separation energy for the daughter. For ¹¹⁵Xe the result is 6.20±0.13 MeV, for ¹¹⁷Xe 4.10±0.20 MeV.     

sd壳层极丰质子核的β延迟衰变谱学

远离β稳定线原子核的结构是当前核物理领域的一个前沿热点。β衰变谱学是研究核结构的重要方法，尤其适用于低产额的滴线核。本文回顾了近年来在RIBLL1装置上开展的sd壳区极丰质子核β延迟衰变谱学的实验研究。该工作获得了15个原子核精确的半衰期、衰变子核的质量、β延迟的质子和双质子发射以及$\gamma $跃迁的能谱、分支比和比较半衰期等数据，并重建了衰变纲图，大大丰富了此区域内质子滴线附近原子核的衰变谱学信息。还介绍了探测器阵列和实验方法，概括了所研究核的衰变性质和半衰期等。特别地，对几个典型核，20Mg和22Si以及26P和27S的衰变性质进行了阐述。此外，对相关话题，如三体力、镜像核衰变不对称性、与银河系中26Al超丰问题相关的热核反应率等问题进行了探讨。