Excited States in {sup 176,178}Hg and Shape Coexistence in Very Neutron-Deficient Hg Isotopes

Journal Article · Thu May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1997 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.78.3650· OSTI ID:582035

Carpenter, M P; Janssens, R V; Amro, H; Blumenthal, D J; Brown, L T; Seweryniak, D; Ackermann, D; Ahmad, I; Davids, C; Fischer, S M; Hackman, G; Khoo, T L; Lauritsen, T; Lister, C J; Nisius, D; Schwartz, J ^[1]; Amro, H; Amro, H ^[2]; Brown, L T; Hamilton, J H ; Ramayya, A V ^[3]; Woods, P J ^[4]; Reviol, W; Wauters, J ^[5]; Schwartz, J ^[6]; Simpson, J ^[7]

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1. Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439 (United States)
2. Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory, Durham, North Carolina 27708-0308 (United States)
3. Department of Physics, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37235 (United States)
4. Department of Physics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ (United Kingdom)
5. Department of Physics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996 (United States)
6. WSNL, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511 (United States)
7. CCLRC, Daresbury Laboratory, Daresbury, Warrington, WA4 4AD, (United Kingdom)

Excited states have been observed for the first time in the neutron-deficient {sup 176,178}Hg nuclei using the recoil-decay tagging (RDT) technique in which prompt {gamma} rays are associated with a particular isotope through a correlation with the characteristic ground state {alpha} decay. Below N=102, the excitation energy of a rotational band built on a prolate shape ({beta}{sub 2}{approximately}0.25) increases with decreasing mass to the point where there is no longer any evidence for its presence at low spin in {sup 176}Hg. The data are in qualitative agreement with recent mean field calculations. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}

• DOE Contract Number: FG05-87ER40361; FG02-88ER40407; W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 582035
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 78, Issue 19; Other Information: PBD: May 1997
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

66 PHYSICS
MERCURY 176
EXCITED STATES
MERCURY 178
SHAPE
NEUTRON-DEFICIENT ISOTOPES
CORRELATIONS
GROUND STATES
ROTATIONAL STATES
MASS
SPIN
MEAN-FIELD THEORY