The gamma decay from Coulomb excitation of 68Ni at 600 MeV/nucleon on a Au target was measured using the RISING setup at the fragment separator of GSI. The 68Ni beam was produced by a fragmentation reaction of 86Kr at 900 MeV/nucleon on a 9Be target and selected by the fragment separator. The gamma rays produced at the Au target were measured with HPGe detectors at forward angles and with BaF2 scintillators at backward angles. The measured spectra show a peak centered at approximately 11 MeV, whose intensity can be explained in terms of an enhanced strength of the dipole response function (pygmy resonance). Such pygmy structure has been predicted in this unstable neutron-rich nucleus by theory.

No abstract

The experimental information on the observed nearly degenerate bands in the N = 75 isotones, in particular 134Pr and 136Pm, which are often considered as the best candidates for chiral bands, is critically analyzed. Most properties of the bands, in particular, the recently measured branching ratios and lifetimes, are in clear disagreement with the interpretation of the two bands as chiral bands. For I =14-18 in 134Pr, where the observed energies are almost degenerate, we have obtained a value of 2.0(4) for the ratio of the transition quadrupole moments of the two bands, which implies a considerable difference in the nuclear shape associated with the two bands. The insufficiency of the near-degeneracy criterion to trace nuclear chirality is emphasized.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

A particle rotor model, which couples nucleons in four single-j shells to a triaxial rotor core, is developed to investigate the five pairs of nearly degenerate doublet bands recently reported in the even-even nucleus 136 Nd. The experimental energy spectra and available B(M 1)/B(E2) values are successfully reproduced. The angular momentum geometries of the valence nucleons and the core support the chiral rotation interpretations not only for the previously reported chiral doublet, but also for the other four candidates. Hence, 136 Nd is the first even-even candidate nucleus in which the multiple chiral doublets exist. Five pairs of chiral doublet bands in a single nucleus is also a new record in the study of nuclear chirality. * Electronic address: mengj@pku.edu.cn

No abstract