The structure of the $^{24}$F nucleus has been studied at GANIL using the $beta$ decay of $^{24}$O and the in-beam $gamma$-ray spectroscopy from the fragmentation of projectile nuclei. Combining these complementary experimental techniques, the level
scheme of $^{24}$F has been constructed up to 3.6 Mev by means of particle-$gamma$ and particle-$gammagamma$ coincidence relations. Experimental results are compared to shell-model calculations using the standard USDA and USDB interactions as well as ab-initio valence-space Hamiltonians calculated from the in-medium similarity renormalization group based on chiral two- and three-nucleon forces. Both methods reproduce the measured level spacings well, and this close agreement allows unidentified spins and parities to be consistently assigned.
A long-lived $J^{pi}=4_1^+$ isomer, $T_{1/2}=2.2(1)$ms, has been discovered at 643.4(1) keV in the weakly-bound $^{26}_{9}$F nucleus. It was populated at GANIL in the fragmentation of a $^{36}$S beam. It decays by an internal transition to the $J^{pi
}=1_1^+$ ground state (82(14)%), by $beta$-decay to $^{26}$Ne, or beta-delayed neutron emission to $^{25}$Ne. From the beta-decay studies of the $J^{pi}=1_1^+$ and $J^{pi}=4_1^+$ states, new excited states have been discovered in $^{25,26}$Ne. Gathering the measured binding energies of the $J^{pi}=1_1^+-4_1^+$ multiplet in $^{26}_{9}$F, we find that the proton-neutron $pi 0d_{5/2} u 0d_{3/2}$ effective force used in shell-model calculations should be reduced to properly account for the weak binding of $^{26}_{9}$F. Microscopic coupled cluster theory calculations using interactions derived from chiral effective field theory are in very good agreement with the energy of the low-lying $1_1^+,2_1^+,4_1^+$ states in $^{26}$F. Including three-body forces and coupling to the continuum effects improve the agreement between experiment and theory as compared to the use of two-body forces only.
The structure of the $^{44}$S nucleus has been studied at GANIL through the one proton knock-out reaction from a $^{45}$Cl secondary beam at 42 A$cdot$MeV. The $gamma$ rays following the de-excitation of $^{44}$S were detected in flight using the 70
BaF${_2}$ detectors of the Ch^{a}teau de Cristal array. An exhaustive $gammagamma$-coincidence analysis allowed an unambiguous construction of the level scheme up to an excitation energy of 3301 keV. The existence of the spherical 2$^+_2$ state is confirmed and three new $gamma$-ray transitions connecting the prolate deformed 2$^+_1$ level were observed. Comparison of the experimental results to shell model calculations further supports a prolate and spherical shape coexistence with a large mixing of states built on the ground state band in $^{44}$S.
