Precision Tests of the Nuclear Wavefunction using Exotic Beams: Measurements of shape co-existence in 182,184Hg using Coulomb excitation
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Liverpool
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
At the ISOLDE facility, part of the international CERN Laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland, radioactive nuclei are produced with high intensities in the so-called isotope separation on-line (ISOL) technique where a primary target is bombarded with an intense, high energy proton beam. Using different primary targets, ISOLDE can produce beams of varying intensity of over 700 isotopes of 70 different chemical elements. This facility is unique worldwide in the diversity of available beams which it can produce. A recent advance at ISOLDE has been the REX-ISOLDE facility which accelerates these radioactive nuclei to energies where they start to resist the Coulomb repulsion of other nuclei in a fixed target. At such energies, interactions take place which allow us to probe the structure of these exotic radioactive nuclei with high precision. For one of these mechanisms, Coulomb excitation, some of the energy of the interaction goes into exciting the nucleus into higher energy states. The ease with which this takes place reflects the nuclear collectivity, a property which is generally largest for nuclei which are deformed, typically having a non-spherical shape such as a rugby-ball shape. Coulomb-excitation measurements therefore allow us to study the nuclear shape, in particular, a certain special class of nuclei which exhibit shape coexistence. This phenomenon occurs when different states in a particular isotope have different distinct shapes.
Publications
Bree N
(2008)
Coulomb excitation of 28 68 Ni 40 at "safe" energies
in Physical Review C
Ekström A
(2008)
0(gs)+ -->2(1)+ transition strengths in 106Sn and 108Sn.
in Physical review letters
Ekström A
(2009)
Electric quadrupole moments of the 2 1 + states in Cd 100 , 102 , 104
in Physical Review C
Gaffney L
(2014)
Shape coexistence in neutron-deficient Hg isotopes studied via lifetime measurements in Hg 184 , 186 and two-state mixing calculations
in Physical Review C
Wrzosek-Lipska K
(2019)
Electromagnetic properties of low-lying states in neutron-deficient Hg isotopes: Coulomb excitation of 182Hg, 184Hg, 186Hg and 188Hg
in The European Physical Journal A
Description | MINIBALL collaboration |
Organisation | European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) |
Department | ISOLDE Radioactive Ion Beam Facility |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Expertise on Coulomb Excitation analysis, spokespersons of 2 active ISOLDE experiments |
Impact | several publications |
Description | MINIBALL collaboration |
Organisation | Lund University |
Department | Department of Physics |
Country | Sweden |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Expertise on Coulomb Excitation analysis, spokespersons of 2 active ISOLDE experiments |
Impact | several publications |
Description | MINIBALL collaboration |
Organisation | University of Cologne |
Department | Department of Physics |
Country | Germany |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Expertise on Coulomb Excitation analysis, spokespersons of 2 active ISOLDE experiments |
Impact | several publications |
Description | MINIBALL collaboration |
Organisation | University of Leuven |
Department | Department of Physics and Astronomy |
Country | Belgium |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Expertise on Coulomb Excitation analysis, spokespersons of 2 active ISOLDE experiments |
Impact | several publications |