Zago, L. et al, Gadea, A., & Algora, A. (2022). High-spin states in Po-212 above the alpha-decaying (18(+)) isomer. Phys. Lett. B, 834, 137457–5pp.
Abstract: The nucleus Po-212 has been produced through the fragmentation of a U-238 primary beam at 1GeV/nucleon at GSI, separated with the FRagment Separator, FRS, and studied via isomer gamma-decay spectroscopy with the RISING setup. Two delayed previously unknown gamma rays have been observed. One has been attributed to the E3 decay of a 21(-) isomeric state feeding the alpha-emitting 45-s (18(+)) high-spin isomer. The other gamma-ray line has been assigned to the decay of a higher-lying 23(+) metastable state. These are the first observations of high-spin states above the Po-212 (18(+)) isomer, by virtue of the selectivity obtained via ion-by-ion identification of U-238 fragmentation products. Comparison with shell-model calculations points to shortfalls in the nuclear interactions involving high- jproton and neutron orbitals, to which the region around Z similar to 100 is sensitive.
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Tonev, D. et al, & Gadea, A. (2021). Transition probabilities in P-31 and S-31: A test for isospin symmetry. Phys. Lett. B, 821, 136603–6pp.
Abstract: Excited states in the mirror nuclei P-31 and S-31 were populated in the 1p and 1n exit channels of the reaction Ne-20 + C-12, at a beam energy of 33 MeV. The Ne-20 beam was delivered for the first time by the Piave-Alpi accelerator of the Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro. Angular correlations of coincident gamma-rays and Doppler-shift attenuation lifetime measurements were performed using the multi-detector array GASP in conjunction with the EUCLIDES charged particle detector. In the observed B(E1) strengths, the isoscalar component, amounting to 24% of the isovector one, provides strong evidence for breaking of the isospin symmetry in the A = 31 mass region. Self-consistent beyond mean field calculations using Equation of Motion method based on a chiral potential and including two- and three-body forces reproduce well the experimental B(E1) strengths, reinforcing our conclusion. Coherent mixing from higher-lying states involving the Giant Isovector Monopole Resonance accounts well for the effect observed. The breaking of the isospin symmetry originates from the violation of the charge symmetry of the two- and three-body parts of the potential, only related to the Coulomb interaction.
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Valiente-Dobon, J. J. et al, Gadea, A., & Algora, A. (2021). Manifestation of the Berry phase in the atomic nucleus Pb-213. Phys. Lett. B, 816, 136183–5pp.
Abstract: The neutron-rich Pb-213 isotope was produced in the fragmentation of a primary 1 GeV A U-238 beam, separated in FRS in mass and atomic number, and then implanted for isomer decay gamma-ray spectroscopy with the RISING setup at GSI. A newly observed isomer and its measured decay properties indicate that states in Pb-213 are characterized by the seniority quantum number that counts the nucleons not in pairs coupled to angular momentum J = 0. The conservation of seniority is a consequence of a geometric phase associated with particle-hole conjugation, which becomes observable in semi-magic nuclei where nucleons half-fill the valence shell. The gamma-ray spectroscopic observables in Pb-213 are thus found to be driven by two mechanisms, particle-hole conjugation and seniority conservation, which are intertwined through a Berry phase.
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AGATA Collaboration(Avigo, R. et al), Domingo-Pardo, C., Gadea, A., & Gonzalez, V. (2020). Low-lying electric dipole gamma-continuum for the unstable Fe-62(,)64 nuclei: Strength evolution with neutron number. Phys. Lett. B, 811, 135951–6pp.
Abstract: The gamma-ray emission from the nuclei Fe-62,Fe-64 following Coulomb excitation at bombarding energy of 400-440 AMeV was measured with special focus on E1 transitions in the energy region 4-8 MeV. The unstable neutron-rich nuclei Fe-62,Fe-64 were produced at the FAIR-GSI laboratories and selected with the FRS spectrometer. The gamma decay was detected with AGATA. From the measured gamma-ray spectra the summed E1 strength is extracted and compared to microscopic quasi-particle phonon model calculations. The trend of the E1 strength with increasing neutron number is found to be fairly well reproduced with calculations that assume a rather complex structure of the 1(-) states (three-phonon states) inducing a strong fragmentation of the E1 nuclear response below the neutron binding energy.
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AGATA Collaboration(Siciliano, M. et al), Gadea, A., Perez-Vidal, R. M., & Domingo-Pardo, C. (2020). Pairing-quadrupole interplay in the neutron-deficient tin nuclei: First lifetime measurements of low-lying states in Sn-106,Sn-108. Phys. Lett. B, 806, 135474–7pp.
Abstract: The lifetimes of the low-lying excited states 2(+) and 4(+) have been directly measured in the neutron-deficient Sn-106,Sn-108 isotopes. The nuclei were populated via a deep-inelastic reaction and the lifetime measurement was performed employing a differential plunger device. The emitted gamma rays were detected by the AGATA array, while the reaction products were uniquely identified by the VAMOS++ magnetic spectrometer. Large-Scale Shell-Model calculations with realistic forces indicate that, independently of the pairing content of the interaction, the quadrupole force is dominant in the B(E2; 2(1)(+) -> 0(g.s)(+)) values and it describes well the experimental pattern for Sn104-114 ; the B(E2;(+)(4) -> 2(1)(+)) values, measured here for the first time, depend critically on a delicate pairing-quadrupole balance, disclosed by the very precise results in Sn-108.
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