Spectroscopic study of neutron shell closures via nucleon transfer in the near-dripline nucleus 23O

Neutron single particle energies have been measured in 23O using the 22O(d,p)23O*-->22O+n process. The energies of the resonant states have been deduced to be 4.00(2) MeV and 5.30(4) MeV. The first excited state can be assigned to the nu d3/2 single particle state from a comparison with shell model calculations. The measured 4.0 MeV energy difference between the nu s1/2 and nu d3/2 states gives the size of the N=16 shell gap which is in agreement with the recent USD05 ("universal" sd from 2005) shell model calculation, and is large enough to explain the unbound nature of the oxygen isotopes heavier than A=24. The resonance detected at 5.3 MeV can be assigned to a state out of the sd shell model space. Its energy corresponds to a approximately 1.3 MeV sized N=20 shell gap, therefore, the N=20 shell closure disappears at Z=8 in agreement with Monte Carlo shell model calculations using SDPF-M interaction.     

First observation of ground state dineutron decay: 16Be

We report on the first observation of dineutron emission in the decay of 16Be. A single-proton knockout reaction from a 53 MeV/u 17B beam was used to populate the ground state of 16Be. 16Be is bound with respect to the emission of one neutron and unbound to two-neutron emission. The dineutron character of the decay is evidenced by a small emission angle between the two neutrons. The two-neutron separation energy of 16Be was measured to be 1.35(10) MeV, in good agreement with shell model calculations, using standard interactions for this mass region.     

Unambiguous identification of three beta-decaying isomers in 70Cu

Using resonant laser ionization, beta-decay studies, and for the first time mass measurements, three beta-decaying states have been unambiguously identified in 70Cu. A mass excess of -62 976.1(1.6) keV and a half-life of 44.5(2) s for the (6-) ground state have been determined. The level energies of the (3-) isomer at 101.1(3) keV with T(1/2)=33(2) s and the 1+ isomer at 242.4(3) keV with T(1/2)=6.6(2) s are confirmed by high-precision mass measurements. The low-lying levels of 70Cu populated in the decay of 70Ni and in transfer reactions compare well with large-scale shell-model calculations, and the wave functions appear to be dominated by one proton-one neutron configurations outside the closed Z=28 shell and N=40 subshell. This does not apply to the 1+ state at 1980 keV which exhibits a particular feeding and deexcitation pattern not reproduced by the shell-model calculations.     

The structure of27Al

Gamma decay modes and spin assignments of levels in²⁷Al have been investigated by proton-γ-ray angular correlation measurements in the²⁴Mg(α, pγ) reaction at 14.2, 15 and 15.6 MeV bombarding energy and byγ-ray angular distribution measurements on the E_p=1820, 2114, 2293 and 2574 keV resonances of the²⁶Mg(p, γ) reaction. Unique spin assignments were obtained as follows: I=3/2 for the 5827 keV state, I=5/2 for the 6115, 6465, 6765, 7577, 7721, 8097, 8136, 8324 keV states, I=7/2 for the 5433, 6533, 7413, 8037, 8442, 8586 keV states, I=9/2 for the 5418, 6512, 6713, 7997 keV states, I=11/2 for the 5500, 6948, 7400, 8396 keV states. The level scheme and electromagnetic properties of levels are compared with the results of shell model calculations which use the complete configuration space of the 0d_5/2-1s_1/2-0d_3/2 shell and the unifieds-d shell Hamiltonian. The agreement is good to excellent and extends into the region of high level density above 7 MeV excitation energy. The total B(M1↑) below 8.5 MeV excitation energy is evaluated, using published resonance fluorescence and (e, e′) data, and quenching relative to the free-nucleon predictions is reexamined. Evidence in favour of a prolate ground state deformation of²⁷Al and implications of this work for the astrophysically interesting²⁶Al(p, γ) reaction are discussed.     

Elastic alpha-12C scattering and the 12C(alpha,gamma)16O E2 S factor

Angular distributions of 12C(alpha,alpha)12C have been measured for E(alpha) = 2.6-8.2 MeV, at angles from 24 to 166, yielding 12 864 data points. R-matrix analysis of the ratios of elastic scattering yields a reduced width amplitude of gamma12 = 0.47 +/- 0.06 MeV(1/2) for the Ex = 6.917 MeV (2+) state in 16O(a = 5.5 fm). The dependence of the chi2 surface on the interaction radius a has been investigated and a deep minimum is found at a = 5.42(+0.16)(-0.27) fm. Using this value of gamma12, radiative alpha capture and 16N beta-delayed alpha-decay data, the S factor is calculated at E(c.m.) = 300 keV to be S(E2)(300) = 53(+13)(-18) keV b for destructive interference between the subthreshold resonance tail and the ground state E2 direct capture.     

Exploring the low-Z shore of the island of inversion at n=19

The technique of invariant mass spectroscopy has been used to measure, for the first time, the ground state energy of neutron-unbound (28)F, determined to be a resonance in the (27)F+n continuum at 220(50) keV. States in (28)F were populated by the reactions of a 62 MeV/u (29)Ne beam impinging on a 288 mg/cm(2) beryllium target. The measured (28)F ground state energy is in good agreement with USDA/USDB shell model predictions, indicating that pf shell intruder configurations play only a small role in the ground state structure of (28)F and establishing a low-Z boundary of the island of inversion for N=19 isotones.     

Evidence for the ground-state resonance of 26O

Evidence for the ground state of the neutron-unbound nucleus (26)O was observed for the first time in the single proton-knockout reaction from a 82 MeV/u (27)F beam. Neutrons were measured in coincidence with (24)O fragments. (26)O was determined to be unbound by 150(-150)(+50) keV from the observation of low-energy neutrons. This result agrees with recent shell-model calculations based on microscopic two- and three-nucleon forces.     

Fast neutron radiative capture in silicon

Using the²⁸Si(n, γ)²⁹Si reaction, transitions to the ground state and first excited state in²⁹Si have been studied in the neutron energy range 3–14 MeV with improved neutron energy resolution (of about 100 keV). The 90° cross sections show considerable structure in the entire neutron energy range. Comparison with theoretical calculations shows that compound-nucleus and direct-semidirect processes account for the non-resonant part (smoothly varying part) of the cross section. A microscopic model is, however, required to describe the resonance structure. Continuum shell-model calculations have proven to be a very promising means towards a better understanding of the capture process in, and below, the giant resonance region in light nuclei. The angular distributions of gamma rays in the neutron energy range 8–14 MeV indicate that the capture reaction is mainly of direct character and that the effect of interference between the electric dipole and isoscalar quadrupole resonance is weak.     

Deuteron stripping to the single particle states of 17O

Angular distributions for deuteron-¹⁶O elastic scattering and the ¹⁶O(d, p)¹⁷O reaction leading to levels with E_x = 0.0, 0.87, and 5.08 MeV have been measured at energies of 25.4, 36.0 and 63.2 MeV. The elastic deuteron data have been fit with a standard spin one optical model potential to obtain parameters for use in a DWBA analysis of the (d, p) data. The potential found in the search is shown to be consistent with other data taken in the range from 25 to 82 MeV. In addition to this deuteron optical potential, an adiabatic deuteron potential, which includes the effects of deuteron breakup, was used in the DWBA analysis. The neutron form factor was selected independent of the width of any state. The mean square radius, a single particle property, is used to find the well parameters and it determines the width of the single particle state. The spectroscopic factors obtained for the ground and first excited states are between 0.8 and 1.0 and are consistent with a large single particle parentage for these states and lower energy data. The width extracted from the DWBA analysis of the 5.08 MeV unbound state was 20% less than that obtained from elastic neutron scattering to the same state, possibly pointing up some difficulties with DWBA procedures commonly used. The adiabatic deuteron potential yields spectroscopic factors that are energy independent to 20% and gives satisfactory calculated angular distribution shapes for angles less than 40°. The conventional deuteron potential gives less satisfactory calculated shapes with the consequent introduction of some ambiguity in the derived spectroscopic factors.     

A direct measurement of the total proton decay width of an isobaric analog state

Differential cross sections for the ²⁰⁸Pb (p, n) reaction populating the isobaric analog state (IAS) of the ²⁰⁸Pb ground state in ²⁰⁸Bi have been measured at a proton bombarding energy of 30.5 MeV. The experimental technique utilized the proton (p?) decay of the IAS to obtain neutron time-of-flight spectra. When these differential cross sections are compared to those obtained for the same reaction at 30.5 MeV using the pulsed-beam technique to obtain neutron time-of-flight spectra, the percentage of the IAS decay through p? channels is obtained. This comparison indicates that the p? decay of the IAS to the first three states of ²⁰⁷Pb accounts for almost all of the IAS width (0.97±0.28).     

Coulomb energy differences in t = 1 mirror rotational bands in (50)Fe and (50)Cr

Gamma rays from the N = Z-2 nucleus (50)Fe have been observed, establishing the rotational ground state band up to the state J(pi) = 11+ at 6.994 MeV excitation energy. The experimental Coulomb energy differences, obtained by comparison with the isobaric analog states in its mirror (50)Cr, confirm the qualitative interpretation of the backbending patterns in terms of successive alignments of proton and neutron pairs. A quantitative agreement with experiment has been achieved by exact shell model calculations, incorporating the differences in radii along the yrast bands, and properly renormalizing the Coulomb matrix elements in the pf model space.     

Deeply bound kaonic states in nuclei

Using a new phenomenological KN interaction which reproduces Λ(1405) as an I = 0 bound state of KN, we have investigated K--3 He(T=0) and K--4 He(T=1/2) within the framework of the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock(BHF) theory. Our calculations show that the above kaonic nuclear systems are both deeply bound. The binding energy BK-is 124.4 MeV(94.1 MeV) and the width Γ is 11.8 MeV(25.8 MeV) for K--3He(T=0)(K--4He(T =1/2)).     

Missing mass spectroscopy on oxygen isotopes beyond the proton-drip line: mirror symmetry of nuclear shell evolution

Missing mass spectroscopy of the proton-rich ¹²O and ¹³O nuclei was performed via the neutron transfer (p, t and (p, d reactions, respectively, using a ¹⁴O beam of 51 MeV/u at GANIL (Grand Accélérateur National d??Ions Lourds). In addition to the ground states, an excited state of ¹²O at 1.8(4) MeV and two excited states of ¹³O at 2.8(3) and 4.2(3) MeV were observed. Spin-parity and/or spectroscopic factors were obtained from the comparison of the differential cross-sections to distorted-wave calculations. The excited state of ¹²O with a suggested spin-parity of 0⁺ or 2⁺ has a significantly low excitation energy, indicating that the proton shell closure at Z = 8 vanishes in ¹²O. The spin-parity of 1/2⁺ was suggested for the 2.8MeV state, which implies that the proton shell gap is weak in ¹³O, whereas the large spectroscopic factor extracted from the ¹⁴O(p , d reaction indicates that the ground 3/2^? state remains dominated by normal p-shell configurations. These features of ¹²O and ¹³O have marked similarities with their neutron-rich mirror partners ¹²Be and ¹³B, respectively, demonstrating mirror symmetry in the fading of the shell closure at magic numbers 8 near the drip lines.     

Experimental evidence of core modification in the near drip-line nucleus 23O

The longitudinal momentum (P(axially)) distributions of one- and two-neutron removal fragments ((21,22)O) of 23O from the reaction with a C target at 72 A MeV have been measured for the first time using a new direct time-of-flight method with nearly full acceptance for the breakup fragments. The unexpectedly narrow width of 21O ( 115 +/- 34 MeV/c in FWHM) is consistent with two neutrons occupying the 2s(1/2) orbital in 23O. This indicates modification of core (22O) structure for neutron halo-like sd shell nuclei near the drip line. This also suggests the lowering of the s orbital providing a justification for the N = 16 magic number.     

Single-nucleon transfer reactions induced by16O on14C

Angular distributions of the proton and neutron transfer reactions¹⁴C(¹⁶O,¹⁵N)¹⁵N and¹⁴C(¹⁶O,¹⁷O)¹³C leading to the ground states of the final nuclei were measured atE _lab=20, 25 and 30 MeV. A DWBA analysis was performed using the no-recoil approximation of Buttle and Goldfarb. All angular distributions, including the pronounced structures of the proton transfer arising from the fact that the final nuclei are identical, are well reproduced. The spectroscopic factor for the neutron transfer is in agreement with shell model calculations whereas the proton transfer into aj _<-state yields a value which is too high. Exact finite-range calculations do not show this discrepancy, indicating that recoil effects are important even for light targets and lower energies. Contributions of the nonnormall-transfer, however, are small.     

Collapse of the N=28 shell closure in (42)Si

The energies of the excited states in very neutron-rich (42)Si and (41,43)P have been measured using in-beam gamma-ray spectroscopy from the fragmentation of secondary beams of (42,44)S at 39A MeV. The low 2(+) energy of (42)Si, 770(19) keV, together with the level schemes of (41,43)P, provides evidence for the disappearance of the Z=14 and N=28 spherical shell closures, which is ascribed mainly to the action of proton-neutron tensor forces. New shell model calculations indicate that (42)Si is best described as a well-deformed oblate rotor.     

Hunting η-bound nuclei

The η meson can be bound to atomic nuclei.Experimental search is discussed in the form of final state interaction for the reactions dp → 3 Heη and dd → 4 Heη.For the latter case tensor polarized deuterons were used in order to extract the s-wave strength.For both reactions complex scattering lengths are deduced: a 3 Heη = ± 10.7±0.8 +0.1 -0.5 +i· 1.5±2.6 +1.0-0.9 fm and a 4 Heη = [±(3.1±0.5)+i·(0±0.5)] fm.In a two-nucleon transfer reaction under quasi-free conditions,p 27 Al → 3 HeX,was investigated.The system X can be the bound 25 Mg  η at rest.When a possible decay of an intermediate N  (1535) is required,a highly significant bump shows up in the missing mass spectrum.The data give for a bound state a binding energy of 13.3±1.6 MeV and a width of σ=4.4±1.3 MeV.     

A study of the Li(p,n)Be reaction by the neutron threshold technique

The reaction ⁶Li(p,n)⁶Be has been studied by slow-neutron detection, with particular attention to the ⁶Be ground state threshold. The detector response was calculated by a Monte Carlo technique and verified with a measurement of the ⁷Li(,n)¹⁰B threshold. An analysis of the shape of the ⁶Be threshold indicated that both s- and p-wave neutrons contribute significantly to the reaction. The results depend on what mode of decay is assumed for the ground state of ⁶Be. If a two-stage process is assumed, with either an alpha particle and an unbound diproton or ⁵Li and a proton as intermediate state, the width is found to be 95±28 keV and the Q-value obtained for the ⁶Li(p,n)⁶Be reaction is −5074±13 keV. It was not possible to detertmine which process is predominant. No higher thresholds in the slow neutron yield up to 4 MeV of excitation in ⁶Be were observed. The data above the ground state threshold are consistent with a broad excited state of ⁶Be or with the occurrence of other neutron-producing reactions.     

Neutron scattering from Au,Hg, and Tl

The elastic and the inelastic scattering of fast neutrons from Au, Hg, and Tl was studied at incident neutron energy intervals of ~50 keV from 0.3 to 1.5 MeV. The differential elastic scattering cross sections were determined approximately every fifteen degrees from 20 to 145 degrees. The cross sections for the inelastic excitation of states in Au at 77, 270, 409, 520, 540, 740, 830, 940, 1120, and 1220 keV; in Hg at 160, 208, 440, 610, 980, and 1120 keV; and in Tl at 205, 279, 615, 680, 930, and 1080 keV were determined. The measured elastic scattering cross sections were compared with the results of optical model calculations and evidence for a decrease in the imaginary part of the potential near the doubly closed shell atA=208 was observed. The results of Hauser-Feshbach calculations, utilizing known spin and parity assignments together with those estimated from nuclear systematics, were in qualitative agreement with the measured inelastic excitation functions. The effect of resonance width fluctuations was considered in the context of the experimental results.