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Title: Decay properties of high-spin isomers and other structures in {sup 121}Sb and {sup 123}Sb

Journal Article · · Physical Review. C, Nuclear Physics
; ; ; ; ;  [1];  [1];  [2]; ; ; ; ;  [3];  [4];  [5]
  1. Department of Nuclear Physics, Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering, Australian National University Canberra, ACT 0200 (Australia)
  2. Nuclear Engineering Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439 (United States)
  3. Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439 (United States)
  4. Department of Physics, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, Massachusetts 01854 (United States)
  5. Department of Display Engineering, Hoseo University, Chung-Nam 336-795 (Korea, Republic of)

High-spin states populated in the decay of microsecond isomers in the transitional nuclei {sup 121}Sb and {sup 123}Sb have been investigated in detail in several experiments using {gamma}-ray and electron spectroscopy. The nuclei were formed using multinucleon transfer and fusion-fission reactions with {sup 136}Xe beams and also using the {sup 120}Sn({sup 7}Li,{alpha}2n){sup 121}Sb and {sup 122}Sn({sup 7}Li,{alpha}2n){sup 123}Sb incomplete-fusion reactions. Isomeric half-lives ranging from several nanoseconds to a few hundred microseconds were determined by means of conventional decay curve analyses, whereas very short-lived isomers (T{sub 1/2}{approx}1 ns) were identified using the generalized centroid-shift method. A number of new transitions were observed, including a branch through spherical states from the 19/2{sup +} member of the 9/2{sup +} deformed band in {sup 121}Sb, in competition with the main decay path through the rotational band. This is attributed to mixing between the 19/2{sup +} band member and a 19/2{sup +} spherical state. Both levels are predicted to coincide approximately in energy in {sup 121}Sb. The fact that a 25/2{sup +} isomer occurs for A=121 and the lighter isotopes, while a 23/2{sup +} isomer is observed for A=123-131 is explained through a multistate mixing calculation, taking into account the gradual shift of the 2d{sub 5/2} and 1g{sub 7/2} proton orbitals and the change in proton-neutron effective interactions from an attractive particle-particle type in the lower part of the shell to a repulsive particle-hole type with increasing the neutron number toward the N=82 shell closure. The observed enhancement of the B(E2;19/2{sup -}{yields}15/2{sup -}) values in {sup 121}Sb and {sup 123}Sb over the B(E2;7{sup -}{yields}5{sup -}) values in the corresponding Sn cores is discussed in terms of configuration mixing between spherical and deformed states.

OSTI ID:
21202717
Journal Information:
Physical Review. C, Nuclear Physics, Vol. 79, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevC.79.024306; (c) 2009 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0556-2813
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English