The 208Pb(α, 3He)209Pb reaction at 58 MeV

The ²⁰⁸Pb(α, ³He)²⁰⁹Pb reaction at 58 MeV has been used to search for high-spin states in ²⁰⁹Pb. Only three levels are excited with appreciable intensity: the ground state $\text{(2}\text{g}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>9</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{)}$ and levels at $\text{0.781 (}\text{li}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>11</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{)}\text{and}\text{1.426}\text{MeV}\text{(}\text{lj}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>15</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{)}$. The angular distributions for these levels have been measured and analyzed using standard DWBA calculations to obtain spectroscopic strengths. The ²⁰⁸Pb(α, α) elastic scattering was measured and optical parameters deduced from the data. A normalization value N = 50 yields spectroscopic values which are close to the values measured in the (d, p) reaction. The (α, ³He) reaction should easily pick out any appreciable components of the $\text{j}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>15</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$ shell model state, which weak-coupling calculations predict should be fragmented. However only three weak transitions previously seen in a (d, p) experiment are observed.