Collective properties of neutron-rich Ru, Pd, and Cd isotopes

Collective properties of neutron-rich Ru, Pd, and Cd isotopes are reviewed, combining the original results from the IGISOL β-decay experiments with recent experimental and theoretical progress. The transitional nature of Ru and Pd nuclei is discussed via the low-lying level systematics, including the low-lying 0^?+? states. Although the role of an anharmonic quadrupole vibrator in Cd nuclei was recently questioned, level systematics for the three-phonon quintuplet in ^116,118,120Cd are presented, and an outlook of the spectroscopic methods for the level lifetime or B(E2) values is given.     

Precision mass measurements of neutron-rich Y, Nb, Mo, Tc, Ru, Rh, and Pd isotopes

Direct mass measurements with typical uncertainties of 1-10keV have been performed for the first time for ten neutron-rich isotopes ^{102, 103}Y , ¹⁰⁸Nb , ¹¹¹Mo , ^{113, 114}Tc , ¹¹⁶Ru , ¹¹⁹Rh , and ^{121, 122}Pd . The obtained mass data compared with the 2003 atomic-mass evaluation shows systematic overestimation of binding energies far from stability. The relationship between two-neutron separation energies, nuclear structure and shape changes has been investigated by comparing the experimental data with a theoretical calculation based on the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov approximation using modern energy density functionals.     

Self-consistent study of triaxial deformations: Application to the isotopes of Kr,Sr, Zr and Mo

Self-consistent mean-field calculations of deformation energy surfaces have been performed for more than 30 exotic isotopes of the Kr, Sr, Zr and Mo elements. Our calculations extend to the proton drip line. We investigate the triaxial stability of the deformed ground states in the deformation regions N ≈ 38 and N ≈ 60. The results are in good agreement with the observed trends.     

The deformation of the neutron-rich isotopes102Mo and104Mo

The half-lives of low-lying levels of the neutron-rich isotopes¹⁰²Mo and¹⁰⁴Mo have been measured at the fission product separator Josef with the ß-- triple coincidence technique. Values of t_1/2= 126(4)ps and 0.72(4)ns have been obtained for the 2₁ ⁺ levels at 296 keV and 192 keV in¹⁰²Mo and¹⁰⁴Mo, respectively. Deformation parameters of ß_q=0.28(1) and 0.31(1), respectively, are deduced, which are smaller than those of the isotones of Sr and Zr. The interacting boson model accounts well for the trend of 2⁺ energies in the Mo isotopes but slightly overpredicts the B(E2) values at saturation. A smooth dependence of 2₁ ⁺ vs. E 2₁ ⁺ is found for the A 100 region in agreement with the hydrodynamical model.Dedicated to Prof. Dr. P. Kienle on the occasion of his 60th birthday     

Study of neutron-rich Mo isotopes by the projected shell model approach

The projected shell model (PSM) calculations have been performed for the neutron-rich even–even ^102?110Mo and odd—even ^103?109Mo isotopes. The present calculation reproduces the available experimental data on the yrast bands. In case of even–even nuclei, the structure of yrast bands is analysed and electromagnetic quantities are compared with the available experimental data. The g-factors have been predicted for high spin states. For the odd-neutron nuclei, the structures of yrast positive- and negative-parity bands are analysed and found to be in reasonable agreement with the experiments for ^103?107Mo. The disagreement of the calculated and observed plots for energy staggering quantity clearly establishes the occurrence of sizable triaxiality in ^103,105Mo and also predicts a decrease in the quantum of triaxiality with increasing neutron number and angular momentum for odd mass neutron-rich Mo isotopes.     

Helium clustering in neutron-rich Be isotopes

Measurements of the helium-cluster breakup and neutron removal cross-sections for neutron-rich Be isotopes ^10–12,14Be are presented. These have been studied in the 30 to 42 MeV/nucleon energy range where reaction measurements are proposed to be sensitive to the cluster content of the ground-state wave-function. These measurements provide a comprehensive survey of the decay processes of the Be isotopes by which the valence neutrons are removed revealing the underlying – core-cluster structure. The measurements indicate that clustering in the Be isotopes remains important up to the drip-line nucleus ¹⁴Be and that the dominant helium-cluster structure in the neutron-rich Be isotopes corresponds to –Xn–.     

Extended collective bands in neutron-rich 109Ru

Levels in the neutron-rich 109Ru have been studied by observing the prompt γ-rays following the spontaneous fission fragments of 252Cf. The ground state band and the negative parity bands have been confirmed and extended. A positive parity band with the band head level at 332.5 keV is newly identified and suggested as a single-neutron excitation band built on the 7/2+ [404] Nilsson orbital. Some structural characteristics of these bands are discussed.     

Further monopole effects in neutron-rich Sb isotopes

The level spectra of neutron-rich Sb isotopes have been investigated within a shell-model space containing cross-shell excitations and the intruder orbit i_13/2.High-spin levels(27/2^-) and(29/2^-) in 135 Sb are taken over by the monopole effect induced by orbit i_13/2.The ground state and excited levels in 136 Sb are well improved by considering the monopole correction between neutron orbits f_7/2 and h_9/2.The energy shrinking of the ...     

Multi-quasiparticle rotational bands in neutron-rich erbium isotopes

Multi-quasiparticle states and rotational bands in neutron-rich erbium isotopes have been investigated by the configuration-constrained pairing-deformation-frequency self-consistent total-Routhian-surface (TRS) method with particle-number-conserved pairing. Specifically, the recently observed Kn=4-bands in 168,170,172 Er have been found to experience a configuration change in our calculation. Some other multi-quasiparticle states with uncertain configuration assignments have been reinvestigated by calculating their collective rotations. The configuration-constrained TRS calculation can reproduce experimental data consistently.     

Intruder states in even-even neutron-rich Pd isotopes

The decays of ¹¹²Rh ^g and ¹¹²Rh ^m obtained as on-line mass separated fission products have been investigated by standard β and γ spectroscopic techniques and γ-γ angular correlations. Low-lying 0⁺ and 2⁺ states are identified in the daughter nucleus ¹¹²Pd. Systematics suggests the existence of an intruder band which is the lowest in ¹¹⁰Pd, i.e. two neutrons before the midshell. Received:13 March 1998     

Onset of deformation in neutron-rich krypton isotopes

Beta-decay properties of neutron-rich₃₅Br isotopes confirm the predicted smooth onset of quadrupole deformation for Z<37 already below N=60. The observed increase of the energy of the first 2⁺ state in the N=56 nucleus⁹²Kr may indicate octupole softness.     

High-spin states in neutron-rich 102Mo nucleus

High-spin states in neutron-rich 102Mo nucleus have been studied by measuring the prompt γ-rays in the spontaneous fission of 252Cf. The previous level scheme has been updated and some new levels and transitions are identified. The one-phonon γ-band is expanded and a band head level of the two-phonon γ-band is proposed. The systematic characteristics of yrast bands, one-phonon γ-bands, two-phonon γ-bands and quasi-particle bands in 102Mo, 104Mo and 106Mo are discussed.     

Production of neutron-rich Ca isotopes in transfer-type reactions

The production cross sections of neutron-rich isotopes ^{52, 54, 56, 58, 60}Ca in the diffusive nucleon transfer reactions ⁴⁸Ca + ¹⁹⁷Au and ⁴⁸Ca + ²³⁸U at incident energies close to the Coulomb barrier are predicted. The global trend of production cross-section with respect to the charge (mass) number of target in reactions with ⁴⁸Ca beam is analysed for the future experiments.     

Search for octupole deformation in neutron-rich Xe isotopes

A search for octupole deformation in neutron-rich Xe isotopes has been conducted through prompt gammaray spectroscopy of secondary fragments produced in the spontaneous fission of²⁴⁸Cm. The spectrometer consisted of the Eurogam 1 array and a set of 5 LEPS detectors. Level schemes were constructed for Xe isotopes with mass number ranging from 140 to 144 and excited states for^143,144Xe nuclei were observed for the first time. None of the level schemes exhibit an alternating parity quasimolecular band, a feature usually expected in nuclei in which octupole correlation effects are strong enough to produce stable octupole deformation. For several isotopes, structures observed in the level schemes are consistent with an octupole softness of the nuclei.     

Evolution of shell structure in neutron-rich calcium isotopes

We employ interactions from chiral effective field theory and compute the binding energies and low-lying excitations of calcium isotopes with the coupled-cluster method. Effects of three-nucleon forces are included phenomenologically as in-medium two-nucleon interactions, and the coupling to the particle continuum is taken into account using a Berggren basis. The computed ground-state energies and the low-lying J^{π}=2^{+} states for the isotopes ^{42,48,50,52}Ca are in good agreement with data, and we predict the excitation energy of the first J^{π}=2^{+} state in ^{54}Ca at 1.9?MeV, displaying only a weak subshell closure. In the odd-mass nuclei ^{53,55,61}Ca we find that the positive parity states deviate strongly from the naive shell model.     

Molecular-orbital structure in neutron-rich Be and C isotopes

The structure of Be and C isotopes are investigated based on the molecular-orbit (MO) model. The low-lying states are characterized by several configurations of valence neutrons, which are constructed as combinations of basic orbits. In ¹⁰Be, all of the observed positive-parity bands and the negative-parity bands are described within the model. The second 0⁺ state of ¹⁰Be has a large α-α cluster structure, and this is characterized by a (1/2⁺ _σ)² configuration. An enlargement of the α-α distance due to two-valence neutrons along the α-α axis makes their wave function smooth and reduces the kinetic energy drastically. Furthermore, the contribution of the spin-orbit interaction due to coupling between the S _z = 0 and the S _z = 1 configurations, is important. In the ground state of ¹²Be, the calculated energy exhibits similar characteristics, that the remarkable α clustering and the contribution of the spin-orbit interaction make the binding of the state with (3/2^- _π)²(1/2⁺ _σ)² configuration properly stronger in comparison with the closed p-shell (3/2^- _π)²(1/2^- _π)² configuration. This is related to the breaking of the N = 8 (closed p-shell) neutron magic number. Also, the molecule-like structure of the C isotopes is investigated using a microscopic α+α+α+n+n+ ^{. . .} model. The combination of the valence neutrons in the π- and the σ-orbit is promising to stabilize the linear-chain state against the breathing and bending modes, and it is found that the excited states of ¹⁶C are the most promising candidates for such structure. Received: 1 May 2001 / Accepted: 4 December 2001     

The strength of octupole correlations in neutron-rich Xe isotopes

Excited levels in ¹⁴⁰Xe and ¹⁴²Xe nuclei, populated in the spontaneous fission of ²⁴⁸Cm, were studied by means of prompt γ-ray spectroscopy, using EUROGAM2 array. We report the first observation of an octupole band in ¹⁴²Xe and extend the octupole band in ¹⁴⁰Xe. Level schemes of ¹⁴⁰Xe and ¹⁴²Xe obtained in this work show patterns characteristic of ocupole-vibrational bands. Properties of octupole bands in Xe isotopes indicate that octupole correlations in these nuclei are lower than in the corresponding Ba nuclei. The electric dipole moment of ¹⁴²Xe was found to be larger than in other Xe isotopes, contrary to theoretical predictions. This may be due to the special role of the N = 88 neutron number. Received: 18 November 2002 / Accepted: 15 December 2002 / Published online: 25 February 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: urban@fuw.edu.pl Communicated by D. Schwalm     

Continuum effect in resonance spectra of neutron-rich oxygen isotopes

Starting from the CD-Bonn potential, we have performed Gamow shell-model calculations for neutronrich oxygen isotopes, investigating excitation spectra and their resonant properties. The Gamow shell model is based on the Berggren ensemble, which is capable of treating the continuum effect reasonably in weakly bound or unbound nuclei. To calculate heavier-mass oxygen isotopes, we choose ~(16)O as a frozen core in the Gamow shell-model calculations. The first 2+excitation energies of the even-even O isotopes are calculated, and compared with those obtained by the conventional shell model using the empirical USDB interaction. The continuum effect is proved to play an important role in the shell evolution near the drip line. We also discuss the effect of the Berggren contour choice. We improve the approximation in the contour choice to give more precise calculations of resonance widths.