Study of the 14Be continuum: identification and structure of its second 2+ state.

The coupling between bound quantum states and those in the continuum is of high theoretical interest. Experimental studies of bound drip-line nuclei provide ideal testing grounds for such investigations since they, due to the feeble binding energy of their valence particles, are easy to excite into the continuum. In this Letter, continuum states in the heaviest particle-stable Be isotope, 14Be, are studied by employing the method of inelastic proton scattering in inverse kinematics. New continuum states are found at excitation energies E*=3.54(16) MeV and E*=5.25(19) MeV. The structure of the earlier known 2(1)+ state at 1.54(13) MeV was confirmed with a predominantly (0d5/2)2 configuration while there is very clear evidence that the 2(2)+ state has a predominant (1s1/2, 0d5/2) structure with a preferential three-body decay mechanism. The region at about 7 MeV excitation shows distinct features of sequential neutron decay via intermediate states in 13Be. This demonstrates that the increasing availability of energetic beams of exotic nuclei opens up new vistas for experiments leading towards a new understanding of the interplay between bound and continuum states.

Direct observation of long-lived isomers in 212Bi.

Long-lived isomers in (212)Bi have been studied following (238)U projectile fragmentation at 670 MeV per nucleon. The fragmentation products were injected as highly charged ions into a storage ring, giving access to masses and half-lives. While the excitation energy of the first isomer of (212)Bi was confirmed, the second isomer was observed at 1478(30) keV, in contrast to the previously accepted value of >1910 keV. It was also found to have an extended Lorentz-corrected in-ring half-life >30 min, compared to 7.0(3) min for the neutral atom. Both the energy and half-life differences can be understood as being due a substantial, though previously unrecognized, internal decay branch for neutral atoms. Earlier shell-model calculations are now found to give good agreement with the isomer excitation energy. Furthermore, these and new calculations predict the existence of states at slightly higher energy that could facilitate isomer deexcitation studies.

A triplet of differently shaped spin-zero states in the atomic nucleus 186Pb

Understanding the fundamental excitations of many-fermion systems is of significant current interest. In atomic nuclei with even numbers of neutrons and protons, the low-lying excitation spectrum is generally formed by nucleon pair breaking and nuclear vibrations or rotations. However, for certain numbers of protons and neutrons, a subtle rearrangement of only a few nucleons among the orbitals at the Fermi surface can result in a different elementary mode: a macroscopic shape change. The first experimental evidence for this phenomenon came from the observation of shape coexistence in 16O (ref. 4). Other unexpected examples came with the discovery of fission isomers and super-deformed nuclei. Here we find experimentally that the lowest three states in the energy spectrum of the neutron deficient nucleus 186Pb are spherical, oblate and prolate. The states are populated by the alpha-decay of a parent nucleus; to identify them, we combine knowledge of the particular features of this decay with sensitive measurement techniques (a highly efficient velocity filters with strong background reduction, and an extremely selective recoil-alpha-electron coincidence tagging methods). The existence of this apparently unique shape triplet is permitted only by the specific conditions that are met around this particular nucleus.

Drastic enhancement of energy-loss straggling of relativistic heavy ions due to charge-state fluctuations

Stopping power and energy-loss straggling of 197Au, 208Pb, and 209Bi projectiles have been measured in different solids (4

Nuclear fragmentation of high-energy heavy-ion beams in water.

As a part of the physical-technical program of the heavy-ion therapy project at GSI we have investigated the nuclear fragmentation of high-energy ion beams delivered by the heavy-ion synchrotron SIS, using water as a tissue-equivalent target. For a direct comparison of fragmentation properties, beams of 10B, 12C, 14N, and 16O were produced simultaneously as secondary beams from a primary 18O beam and separated in flight by magnetic beam analysis. The Z-distributions of beam fragments produced in the water target were measured via energy loss in a large ionisation chamber and a scintillator telescope. From these data we obtained both total and partial charge-changing cross sections. In addition we have performed Bragg measurements using two parallel-plate ionization chambers and a water target of variable length. The detailed shape of the measured Bragg curves and the measured cross sections are in good agreement with model calculations based on semi-empirical formulae.

Schottky mass measurement of the 208Hg isotope: implication for the proton-neutron interaction strength around doubly magic 208Pb.

Time-resolved Schottky mass spectrometry has been applied to uranium projectile fragments which yielded the mass value for the 208Hg (Z=80, N=128) isotope. The mass excess value of ME=-13 265(31) keV has been obtained, which has been used to determine the proton-neutron interaction strength in 210Pb, as a double difference of atomic masses. The results show a dramatic variation of the strength for lead isotopes when crossing the N=126 neutron shell closure, thus confirming the empirical predictions that this interaction strength is sensitive to the overlap of the wave functions of the last valence neutrons and protons.

Measurement of the beta+ and orbital electron-capture decay rates in fully ionized, hydrogenlike, and heliumlike 140Pr ions.

We report on the first measurement of the beta+ and orbital electron-capture decay rates of 140Pr nuclei with the simplest electron configurations: bare nuclei, hydrogenlike, and heliumlike ions. The measured electron-capture decay constant of hydrogenlike 140Pr58+ ions is about 50% larger than that of heliumlike 140Pr57+ ions. Moreover, 140Pr ions with one bound electron decay faster than neutral 140Pr0+ atoms with 59 electrons. To explain this peculiar observation one has to take into account the conservation of the total angular momentum, since only particular spin orientations of the nucleus and of the captured electron can contribute to the allowed decay.

Isospin dependence in the odd-even staggering of nuclear binding energies.

The FRS-ESR facility at GSI provides unique conditions for precision measurements of large areas on the nuclear mass surface in a single experiment. Values for masses of 604 neutron-deficient nuclides (30 < or = Z < or = 92) were obtained with a typical uncertainty of 30 microu. The masses of 114 nuclides were determined for the first time. The odd-even staggering (OES) of nuclear masses was systematically investigated for isotopic chains between the proton shell closures at Z = 50 and Z = 82. The results were compared with predictions of modern nuclear models. The comparison revealed that the measured trend of OES is not reproduced by the theories fitted to masses only. The spectral pairing gaps extracted from models adjusted to both masses, and density related observables of nuclei agree better with the experimental data.

Simultaneous measurement of beta- decay to bound and continuum electron states.

We report the first measurement of a ratio lambda(beta(b))/lambda(beta(c)) of bound-state ((lambda(beta(b))) and continuum-state (lambda(beta(c))) beta(-)-decay rates for the case of bare 207Tl81+ ions. These ions were produced at the GSI fragment separator FRS by projectile fragmentation of a 208Pb beam. After in-flight separation with the Brho-deltaE-Brho method, they were injected into the experimental storage-ring ESR at an energy of 400.5A MeV, stored, and electron cooled. The number of both the 207Tl81+ ions and their bound-state beta(-)-decay daughters, hydrogen-like 207Pb81+ ions, were measured as a function of storage time by recording their Schottky-noise intensities. The experimental result, lambda(beta(b))/lambda(beta(c)) = 0.188(18), is in very good agreement with the value of 0.171(1) obtained from theory employing spectra of allowed transitions.

Deeply bound 1s and 2p pionic states in 205Pb and determination of the s-wave part of the pion-nucleus interaction.

We observed well-separated 1s and 2p pi(-) states in 205Pb in the 206Pb(d,3He) reaction at T(d) = 604.3 MeV. The binding energies and the widths determined are B(1s) = 6.762+/-0.061 MeV, Gamma(1s) = 0.764(+0.154)(-0.171) MeV, B(2p) = 5.110+/-0.045 MeV, and Gamma(2p) = 0.321(-0.062)(+0.060) MeV. They are used to deduce the real and imaginary strengths of the s-wave part of the pion-nucleus interaction, which translates into a positive mass shift of pi(-) in 205Pb.

Precision spectroscopy of pionic 1s states of Sn nuclei and evidence for partial restoration of chiral symmetry in the nuclear medium.

Deeply bound 1s states of pi(-) in (115,119,123)Sn were preferentially observed using the Sn(d,3He) pion-transfer reaction under the recoil-free condition. The 1s binding energies and widths were precisely determined and were used to deduce the isovector parameter of the s-wave pion-nucleus potential to be b1=-(0.115+/-0.007)m(-1)(pi). The observed enhancement of |b(1)| over the free piN value (b(free)1/b1=0.78+/-0.05) indicates a reduction of the chiral order parameter, f*pi(rho)2/f2pi approximately 0.64, at the normal nuclear density, rho=rho(0).