Global properties of K hindrance probed by the gamma decay of the warm rotating W-174 nucleus

• The K hindrance to the gamma decay is studied in the warm rotating W-174 nucleus, focusing on the weakening of the selection rules of the K quantum number with increasing excitation energy. W-174 was populated by the fusion reaction of Ti-50 (at 217 MeV) on a Te-128 target, and its gamma decay was detected by the AGATA Demonstrator array coupled to a BaF2 multiplicity filter at Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro of INFN. A fluctuation analysis of gamma coincidence matrices gives a similar number of low-K and high-K discrete excited bands. The results are compared to simulations of the gamma-decay flow based on a microscopic cranked shell model at finite temperature in which the K mixing is governed by the interplay of Coriolis force with the residual interaction. Agreement between simulations and experiment is obtained only by hindering the E1 decay between low-K and high-K bands by an amount compatible with that determined by spectroscopic studies of K isomers in the same mass region, with a similar trend with excitation energy. The work indicates that K mixing due to temperature effects may play a leading role for the entire body of discrete excited bands, which probes the onset region of K weakening.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Quantum Number

Atomic-Nuclei

States

Isomers

Fluctuation

Alignment

Spectra

Region

Rays

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)