No Arabic abstract
Total absorption spectroscopy was used to investigate the beta-decay intensity to states above the neutron separation energy followed by gamma-ray emission in 87,88Br and 94Rb. Accurate results were obtained thanks to a careful control of systematic errors. An unexpectedly large gamma intensity was observed in all three cases extending well beyond the excitation energy region where neutron penetration is hindered by low neutron energy. The gamma branching as a function of excitation energy was compared to Hauser-Feshbach model calculations. For 87Br and 88Br the gamma branching reaches 57% and 20% respectively, and could be explained as a nuclear structure effect. Some of the states populated in the daughter can only decay through the emission of a large orbital angular momentum neutron with a strongly reduced barrier penetrability. In the case of neutron-rich 94Rb the observed 4.5% branching is much larger than the calculations performed with standard nuclear statistical model parameters, even after proper correction for fluctuation effects on individual transition widths. The difference can be reconciled introducing an enhancement of one order-of-magnitude in the photon strength to neutron strength ratio. An increase in the photon strength function of such magnitude for very neutron-rich nuclei, if it proved to be correct, leads to a similar increase in the (n,gamma) cross section that would have an impact on r-process abundance calculations.
The reaction $^{11}textrm{B}+p$ has been used to populate the $(J^pi,T) = (2^+,1)$ state at an excitation energy of 16.11 MeV in $^{12}$C. $gamma$-decay to unbound states in $^{12}$C are identified from analysis of the decay of the populated daughter states. Due to a new technique, $gamma$-decay to the 10.8 MeV 1$^-$ state is observed for the first time, and transitions to the 9.64 MeV (3$^-$) and 12.71 MeV (1$^+$) are confirmed. Unresolved transitions to natural parity strength at 10 MeV and 11.5-13 MeV are also observed. For all transitions partial widths are deduced
Neutron-unbound resonant states of 11Be were populated in neutron knock-out reactions from 12Be and identified by 10Be-n coincidence measurements. A resonance in the decay-energy spectrum at 80(2) keV was attributed to a highly excited unbound state in 11Be at 3.949(2) MeV decaying to the 2+ excited state in 10Be. A knockout cross section of 15(3) mb was inferred for this 3.949(2) MeV state suggesting a spectroscopic factor near unity for this 0p3/2- level, consistent with the detailed shell model calculations.
$beta$ decay of the $^{61}$Cr$_{37}$ ground state has been studied. A new half-life of 233 +/- 11 ms has been deduced, and seven delayed $gamma$ rays have been assigned to the daughter, $^{61}$Mn$_{36}$. The low-energy level structure of $^{61}$Mn$_{36}$ is similar to that of the less neutron-rich $^{57,59}$Mn nuclei. The odd-A $_{25}$Mn isotopes follow the systematic trend in the yrast states of the even-even, Z + 1 $_{26}$Fe isotopes, and not that of the Z - 1 $_{24}$Cr isotopes, where a possible onset of collectivity has been suggested to occur already at N = 36.
The kinematics of two-neutron emission following the $beta$-decay of $^{11}$Li was investigated for the first time by detecting the two neutrons in coincidence and by measuring their angle and energy. An array of liquid-scintillator neutron detectors was used to reject cosmic-ray and $gamma$-ray backgrounds by pulse-shape discrimination. Cross-talk events in which two detectors are fired by a single neutron were rejected using a filter tested on the $beta$-1n emitter $^9$Li. A large cross-talk rejection rate is obtained ($> 95 %$) over most of the energy range of interest. Application to $^{11}$Li data leads to a significant number of events interpreted as $beta$-2n decay. A discrete neutron line at $approx$ 2 MeV indicates sequential two-neutron emission, possibly from the unbound state at 10.6 MeV excitation energy in $^{11}$Be.
Background: Odd-odd nuclei, around doubly closed shells, have been extensively used to study proton-neutron interactions. However, the evolution of these interactions as a function of the binding energy, ultimately when nuclei become unbound, is poorly known. The $^{26}$F nucleus, composed of a deeply bound $pi0d_{5/2}$ proton and an unbound $ u0d_{3/2}$ neutron on top of an $^{24}$O core, is particularly adapted for this purpose. The coupling of this proton and neutron results in a $J^{pi} = 1^{+}_1 - 4^{+}_1$ multiplet, whose energies must be determined to study the influence of the proximity of the continuum on the corresponding proton-neutron interaction. The $J^{pi} = 1^{+}_1, 2^{+}_1,4^{+}_1$ bound states have been determined, and only a clear identification of the $J^{pi} =3^{+}_1$ is missing.Purpose: We wish to complete the study of the $J^{pi} = 1^{+}_1 - 4^{+}_1$ multiplet in $^{26}$F, by studying the energy and width of the $J^{pi} =3^{+}_1$ unbound state. The method was firstly validated by the study of unbound states in $^{25}$F, for which resonances were already observed in a previous experiment.Method: Radioactive beams of $^{26}$Ne and $^{27}$Ne, produced at about $440A$,MeV by the FRagment Separator at the GSI facility, were used to populate unbound states in $^{25}$F and $^{26}$F via one-proton knockout reactions on a CH$_2$ target, located at the object focal point of the R$^3$B/LAND setup. The detection of emitted $gamma$-rays and neutrons, added to the reconstruction of the momentum vector of the $A-1$ nuclei, allowed the determination of the energy of three unbound states in $^{25}$F and two in $^{26}$F. Results: Based on its width and decay properties, the first unbound state in $^{25}$F is proposed to be a $J^{pi} = 1/2^-$ arising from a $p_{1/2}$ proton-hole state. In $^{26}$F, the first resonance at 323(33)~keV is proposed to be the $J^{pi} =3^{+}_1$ member of the $J^{pi} = 1^{+}_1 - 4^{+}_1$ multiplet. Energies of observed states in $^{25,26}$F have been compared to calculations using the independent-particle shell model, a phenomenological shell-model, and the ab initio valence-space in-medium similarity renormalization group method.Conclusions: The deduced effective proton-neutron interaction is weakened by about 30-40% in comparison to the models, pointing to the need of implementing the role of the continuum in theoretical descriptions, or to a wrong determination of the atomic mass of $^{26}$F.