Abstract: ACoulomb-excitation experiment to study electromagnetic properties of Ca-42 was performed using a 170-MeV calcium beam from the TANDEM XPU facility at INFN Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro. gamma rays from excited states in Ca-42 were measured with the AGATA spectrometer. The magnitudes and relative signs of ten E2 matrix elements coupling six low-lying states in Ca-42, including the diagonal E2 matrix elements of 2(1)(+) and 2(2)(+) states, were determined using the least-squares code GOSIA. The obtained set of reduced E2 matrix elements was analyzed using the quadrupole sum rule method and yielded overall quadrupole deformation for 0(1),(+)(2) and 2(1,2)(+) states, as well as triaxiality for 0(1,2)(+) states, establishing the coexistence of a weakly deformed ground-state band and highly deformed slightly triaxial sideband in Ca-42. The experimental results were compared with the state-of-the-art large-scale shell-model and beyond-mean-field calculations, which reproduce well the general picture of shape coexistence in Ca-42.

Abstract: The high-spin structures of Ba-136 and Ba-137 are investigated after multinucleon-transfer (MNT) and fusion-evaporation reactions. Ba-136 is populated in a Xe-136 + U-238 MNT reaction employing the high-resolution Advanced GAmma Tracking Array (AGATA) coupled to the magnetic spectrometer PRISMA at the Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro, Italy, and in two Be-9 + Te-130 fusion-evaporation reactions using the High-efficiency Observatory for gamma-Ray Unique Spectroscopy (HORUS) at the FN tandem accelerator of the University of Cologne, Germany. Furthermore, both isotopes are populated in an elusive reaction channel in the B-11 + Te-130 fusion-evaporation reaction utilizing the HORUS gamma-ray array. The level scheme above the J(pi) = 10(+) isomer in Ba-136 is revised and extended up to an excitation energy of approximately 5.5 MeV. From the results of angular-correlation measurements, the E-x = 3707- and E-x = 4920-keV states are identified as the bandheads of positive- and negative-parity cascades. While the high-spin regimes of both Te-132 and Xe-134 are characterized by high-energy 12(+) -> 10(+) transitions, the Ba-136 E2 ground-state band is interrupted by negative-parity states only a few hundred keV above the J(pi) = 10(+) isomer. Furthermore, spins are established for several hitherto unassigned high-spin states in Ba-137. The new results close a gap along the high-spin structure of N < 82 Ba isotopes. Experimental results are compared to large-scale shell-model calculations employing the GCN50:82, Realistic SM, PQM130, and SN100PN interactions. The calculations suggest that the bandheads of the positive-parity bands in both isotopes are predominantly of proton character.

Abstract: The transitional nucleus Xe-131 is investigated after multinucleon transfer in the Xe-136 + Pb-208 and Xe-136 +U-238 reactions employing the high-resolution Advanced gamma-Tracking Array (AGATA) coupled to the magnetic spectrometer PRISMA at the Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro, Italy, and as an elusive reaction product in the fusion-evaporation reaction Sn-124(B-11) ,p3n)Xe-131 employing the High-efficiency Observatory for gamma-Ray Unique Spectroscopy (HORUS) gamma-ray array coupled to a double-sided silicon strip detector at the University of Cologne, Germany. The level scheme of Xe-131 is extended to 5 MeV. A pronounced backbending is observed at (h) over bar omega approximate to 0.4 MeV along the negative-parity one-quasiparticle vh(11/12)(alpha = -1/2) band. The results are compared to the high-spin systematics of the Z = 54 isotopes and the N = 77 isotones. Large-scale shell-model calculations employing the PQM130, SN100PN, GCN50:82, SN100-KTH, and a realistic effective interaction reproduce the experimental findings and provide guidance to elucidate the structure of the high-spin states. Further calculations in Xe129-132 provide insight into the changing nuclear structure along the Xe chain towards the N = 82 shell closure. Proton occupancy in the pi 0h(11/2) orbital is found to be decisive for the description of the observed backbending phenomenon.

Abstract: Isomeric states in isotopes in the vicinity of doubly-magic Pb-208 were populated following reactions of a relativistic Pb-208 primary beam impinging on a Be-9 fragmentation target. Secondary beams of Pb-198,Pb-200,Pb-202,Pb-206 and Hg-206 were isotopically separated and implanted in a passive stopper positioned in the focal plane of the GSI Fragment Separator. Delayed gamma rays were detected with the Advanced Gamma Tracking Array (AGATA). Decay schemes were reevaluated and interpreted with shell-model calculations. The momentum-dependent population of isomeric states in the two-nucleon hole nuclei Pb-206/Hg-206 was found to differ from the population of multi neutron-hole isomeric states in Pb-198,Pb-200,Pb-202.

Abstract: The low-lying excited states in the neutron-deficient N = Z + 1 nucleus (87)(43)Tcc(44) have been studied via the fusion-evaporation reaction Fe-54(Ar-36, 2n1p)Tc-87 at the Grand Accelerateur National d'Ions Lourds (GANIL), France. The AGATA spectrometer was used in conjunction with the auxiliary NEDA, Neutron Wall, and DIAMANT detector arrays to measure coincident prompt gamma rays, neutrons, and charged particles emitted in the reaction. A level scheme of Tc-87 from the (9/2(g.s.)(+)) state to the (33/2(1)(+)) state was established based on six mutually coincident gamma-ray transitions. The constructed level structure exhibits a rotational behavior with a sharp backbending at (h) over bar omega approximate to 0.50 MeV. A decrease in alignment frequency and increase in alignment sharpness in the odd-mass isotonic chains around N = 44 is proposed as an effect of the enhanced isoscalar neutron-proton interactions in odd-mass nuclei when approaching the N = Z line.