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.