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- Gaffney, L. P., et al.
(author)
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Collectivity in the light radon nuclei measured directly via Coulomb excitation
- 2015
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In: Physical Review C (Nuclear Physics). - 0556-2813. ; 91:6
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Shape coexistence in heavy nuclei poses a strong challenge to state-of-the-art nuclear models, where several competing shape minima are found close to the ground state. A classic region for investigating this phenomenon is in the region around Z = 82 and the neutron midshell at N = 104. Purpose: Evidence for shape coexistence has been inferred from a-decay measurements, laser spectroscopy, and in-beam measurements. While the latter allow the pattern of excited states and rotational band structures to be mapped out, a detailed understanding of shape coexistence can only come from measurements of electromagnetic matrix elements. Method: Secondary, radioactive ion beams of Rn-202 and Rn-204 were studied by means of low-energy Coulomb excitation at the REX-ISOLDE in CERN. Results: The electric-quadrupole (E2) matrix element connecting the ground state and first excited 2(1)(+) state was extracted for both Rn-202 and Rn-204, corresponding to B(E2; 2(1)(+) -> 0(1)(+)) = 29(-8)(+8) and 43(-12)(+17) W.u., respectively. Additionally, E2 matrix elements connecting the 2(1)(+) state with the 4(1)(+) and 2(2)(+) states were determined in Rn-202. No excited 0(+) states were observed in the current data set, possibly owing to a limited population of second-order processes at the currently available beam energies. Conclusions: The results are discussed in terms of collectivity and the deformation of both nuclei studied is deduced to be weak, as expected from the low-lying level-energy schemes. Comparisons are also made to state-of-the-art beyond-mean-field model calculations and the magnitude of the transitional quadrupole moments are well reproduced.
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2. |
- Scheck, M., et al.
(author)
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Do nuclei go pear-shaped? Coulomb excitation of Rn-220 and Ra-224 at REX-ISOLDE (CERN)
- 2015
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In: Cgs15 - Capture Gamma-ray Spectroscopy and Related Topics. - : EDP Sciences. - 2101-6275 .- 2100-014X. ; 93, s. 01038-01038
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The IS475 collaboration conducted Coulomb-excitation experiments with post-accelerated radioactive Rn-220 and Ra-224 beams at the REX-ISOLDE facility. The beam particles (E-beam: 2.83 MeV/u) were Coulomb excited using Ni-60, Cd-14, and Sn-120 scattering targets. De-excitation gamma-rays were detected employing the Miniball array and scattered particles were detected in a silicon detector. Exploiting the Coulomb-excitation code GOSIA for each nucleus several matrix elements could be obtained from the measured gamma-ray yields. The extracted < 3 parallel to E3 parallel to 0(+)> matrix element allows for the conclusion that, while Rn-220 represents an octupole vibrational system, Ra-224 has already substantial octupole correlations in its ground state. This finding has i(m)plications for the search of CP-violating Schiff moments in the atomic systems of the adjacent odd-mass nuclei.
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