Recoil-distance lifetime measurements in 51Cr, 53Cr, 53Mn and 53Fe

Levels in ⁵¹Cr, ⁵³Cr, ⁵³Mn and ⁵³Fe were excited via (α, n) or (α, p) reactions. Using the recoil-distance method, mean-lives (in ps) have been obtained for excited states (keV) in the residual nuclei: ${}^{51}\text{Cr}\text{(2256) = 66±2,}{}^{53}\text{Cr}\text{(1536) = 21.5±3.5,}{}^{53}\text{Cr}\text{(2173) = 6.7±3.1,}{}^{53}\text{Mn}\text{(2564) = 20}{}^{\mathrm{+8}}{}_{\mathrm{?6}}\text{and}{}^{53}\text{Fe}\text{(1424) = 4.0±1.0}$. Reduced transition probabilities calculated from these values are compared with the available theoretical values.