María José García Borge

Study of charged particles emitted in the β-decay of 6,8He

The beta-delayed charged particle spectra from He-6 and He-8 were measured with a telescope consisting of a gas counter and a Si surface barrier detector. Beta-delayed deuterons and tritons are emitted in the two cases with branching ratios of (7.6 +/- 0.6) x 10(-6), E(d) > 350 keV and (8.0 +/- 0.5) x 10(-3), respectively. Both spectra present anomalies that must be due to the special structure of these nuclei (an alpha core surrounded by several neutrons).

Nuclear shape transition in light gold isotopes

Abstract The hyperfine structure and isotope shifts of short-lived gold isotopes with 185 ⩽ A ⩽ 190 and the 11 2 − isomer of 189 Au have been investigated by application of on-line resonance ionization mass spectroscopy. A detection efficiency of e = 10 −8 for gold atoms was observed at a background of about one event per 1000 laser shots. The deduced charge radii show a drastic change between A = 187 and A = 186 which is interpreted as an onset of strong deformation (β 2 ≈ 0.25) in 186 Au and 185 Au due to the influence of the π 1 h 9 2 intruder orbital.

New results on the halo structure of 8B

The longitudinal momentum distribution of Be fragments after fragmentation of B and the one-proton removal cross section (σ-1p) in a carbon target were measured at 1440 MeV/u with the fragment separator FRS used as an energy-loss spectrometer. The results show a narrow momentum distribution with a FWHM value of 91 ± 5 MeV/c and a large cross-section, σ-1p = 98 ± 6 mb. Both these results support the interpretation of a spatially extended proton orbit forming a halo in the B ground state. The momentum distribution and the one-proton removal cross section are shown to be reproduced with a three-body wave function for 8B where the target is treated as a black disc in the breakup process.

8He-6He: a comparative study of nuclear fragmentation reactions

Dissociation of 227 MeV/u He-8 in a carbon target has been studied in kinematically complete experiments. The data include the relative energy spectrum, angular distributions in the neutron knock-out channel (He-6 + n) as well as diffractive dissociation and inelastic scattering into the (He-6 + 2n) channel. The data are compared with corresponding results from the well-known halo nucleus He-6. In both cases it is found that neutron knock-out is the: dominating reaction channel. The relative energy spectrum (He-6 + n) shows a structure, which is interpreted as being due to the I-pi = 3/2(-) resonance in the He-7 ground state with about equal contribution from its I-pi = 1/2(-) spin-orbit partner. The He-7 resonance shows a spin alignment similar to that observed in He-5, but with a smaller anisotropy indicating that the structure of the He-8 ground state is more complicated than that of He-6. The data in the (He-6 + 2n) channel were used to identify resonances in the excitation energy spectrum of He-8. If the spectrum is interpreted as two overlapping resonances, the spin-parity assignment for these is found to be 2(+) and 1(-), respectively.

Searching for the 5H resonance in the t+n+n system

19 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables, 2 appendices.-- PACS nrs.: 27.10.+h; 25.60.Gc.-- Printed version published Jul 28, 2003.

Study of the giant gamow-teller resonance in nuclear β-decay: The case of 32Ar

Delayed proton and gamma emissions following the β-decay of 32Ar have been studied. The half-life of 32Ar is 98 ± 2 ms, and the T = 2 analogue state in 32Cl lies at the excitation energy 5036 ± 12 keV. From the intensity of the feeding to this state the proton intensities can be converted to an absolute scale leading to a total proton branching ratio of (43 ± 3)%. From proton-gamma coincidence measurements it emerges that (1.9 ± 0.2)% of the protons lead to the first-excited state in 31S. A level scheme up to 8.75 MeV excitation in 32Cl has been constructed and the Gamow-Teller strength function has been deduced. The result is a renormalization of the axial-vector strength to (49 ± 5)% of the free-nucleon value.

Beta decay of 31Ar

Abstract A complete study of 31 Ar beta decay has been made by high-resolution charged-particle and gamma-ray spectroscopy. Beta-delayed radiation was detected by an array of three charged-particle detectors and a large-volume germanium detector. Fifteen new energy levels were discovered in 31 Cl. The beta-strength distribution, measured to 14.5 MeV, is compared with a shell-model calculation in the full sd space. The quenching of the Gamow-Teller strength and the isospin impurity of the IAS in 31 Cl are discussed.

Super-Allowed Beta-Decay of Nuclei at the Drip-Line

We have investigated the continuous particle spectra following the beta decay of the neutron-rich nuclei that terminate the mass 6, 8, 9 and 11 isobaric chains. Strong beta transitions feeding the very top of the spectrum are found systematically. The favoured states are within a few MeV of the energy of the initial state. This phenomenon seems to be linked to the occurrence of a di-neutron structure or neutron halo in the drip-line nuclei.

Observation of the Li-11(beta d) decay

Experimental data from the decay of Li-11 show for the first time the presence of beta-delayed deuterons with a branching ratio larger than 10(-4). To distinguish between beta d and beta t events the decays of the daughter nuclei Li-9 and Li-8 were identified in the energy and decay time spectra. Furthermore, a time correlation analysis between the beta d events and the subsequent daughter decays was performed.

Longitudinal and transverse momentum distributions of 9Li fragments from break-up of 11Li

Transverse and longitudinal momentum distributions of Li-9 fragments from Li-11 break-up reactions in C, Al and Pb targets have been measured at 280 MeV/u. The two-neutron removal cross-section was measured to be sigma(-2n), = 0.26 +/- 0.02 b for the carbon target, sigma(-2n) = 0.47 +/- 0.08 b for the aluminum target and sigma(-2n), = 1.9 +/- 0.4 b for the lead target. No significant difference is observed between the narrow widths (FWHM approximate to 47 MeV/c) of the transverse and longitudinal momentum distributions of the Li-9 fragments. The physical implications of this are discussed.