Absolute E3 and M2 transition probabilities for the electromagnetic decay of the \mathrm{\ensuremath I^{\pi}=K^{\pi}=8^{-}} isomeric state in 132Ce

The decay of the $\ensuremath I^{\pi}=K^{\pi}=8^{-}$ isomeric state at 2340keV in ¹³²Ce has been investigated in the ¹²⁰Sn(¹⁶O, 4n)¹³²Ce reaction. The measurements were carried out in e - $ \gamma$ and $ \gamma$ - $ \gamma$ coincidence modes using an electron spectrometer coupled to the OSIRIS II gamma-ray array at the Heavy Ion Laboratory of the University of Warsaw. Experimentally obtained internal conversion coefficients for the $\ensuremath 8^{-} \rightarrow 6^{+}$ and $\ensuremath 8^{-} \rightarrow 5^{+}$ transitions allowed the multipolarities, mixing ratios, reduced transition probabilities and hindrance factors to be determined.     

Femtosecond relaxation kinetics of highly excited \mathrm{M}_{\mathrm{Na}}^{**} states in CaF2 at 3.2 eV and 4.7 eV

Femtosecond (fs) laser pulses at variable delay times allowed us to track the fast non-radiative transitions between the manifold of highly excited $\mathrm{M}_{\mathrm{Na}}^{**}$ states to the lower lying fluorescent $\mathrm{M}_{\mathrm{Na}}^{*}$ state in CaF₂. Two distinct $\mathrm{M}_{\mathrm{Na}}^{**}$ states of the manifold at 3.16?eV ( $\mathrm{M}_{\mathrm{Na}2}^{**}$ ) and 4.73?eV ( $\mathrm{M}_{\mathrm{Na}3}^{**}$ ) were populated using the second (SH) and third harmonics (TH) of fs laser light at 785?nm. The population kinetics of the fluorescent $\mathrm{M}_{\mathrm{Na}}^{*}$ state in the 2?eV excitation energy range was revealed by depleting its fluorescence centered at 740?nm using fundamental near infrared (NIR) fs laser pulses. The related time constants for $\mathrm{M}_{\mathrm{Na}2,3}^{**}{\sim}{>} \mathrm{M}_{\mathrm{Na}}^{*}$ relaxation amounted to 1.0±0.14?ps and 3.0±0.3?ps upon SH and TH excitation, respectively.     

A precise measurement of the partial decay width ratio {R_{\mathrm{b}}}^0 = \Gamma_{\mathrm{b\bar{b}}}/\Gamma_{\mathrm{had}}

The partial decay width of the Z to quark pairs has been measured by the DELPHI detector at LEP using data taken in the years 1992 to 1995. Decays of b-hadrons were tagged by several methods using tracks with large impact parameters and/or reconstructed secondary vertices, complemented by event shape variables. Combining these methods in a multivariate analysis the value was obtained, where the production fraction was fixed to its Standard Model value. Received: 18 December 1998 / Revised version: 26 April 1999 / Published online: 3 August 1999