7 MeV dipole ground state transitions in 207Pb, 208Pb and 209Bi

The Doppler-broadened 7.117 MeV line from the ¹⁹F(p, αγ)¹⁶O reaction has been used to resonantly excite levels in ²⁰⁸Pb at 7071±2 and 7091±2 keV, in ²⁰⁷Pb at 7186±5 and 7206±5 keV and in ²⁰⁹Bi at 7179±5 and 7202±5 keV. On the basis of angular distribution measurements the 7071 and 7091 keV levels of ²⁰⁸Pb are assigned spins of 1 and assuming 100% ground state branching the widths are calculated to be 31±3 and 17±2 eV respectively. It is suggested that the states in ²⁰⁷Pb and ²⁰⁹Bi arise from the weak coupling of a $\text{P}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$ neutron hole and an $\text{h}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>9</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$ proton respectively to one or the other of the ²⁰⁸Pb levels. The widths obtained in terms of _gΓ_o²/Γ are 15±4 and 25±5 eV for the 7186 and 7206 keV levels of ²⁰⁷Pb and 24±5 and 30±5 for the levels of ²⁰⁹Bi respectively. These values are consistent with the weak-coupling suggestion.