SAIP 2011

Transitional 150Sm and 152Gd

14 Jul 2011, 11:45

15m

Acro8

Oral Presentation Track B - Nuclear, Particle and Radiation Physics NPRP

Speaker

Ms Suzan Phumudzo Bvumbi (University of Johannesburg)

Description

Nuclei near N=90 are considered transitional, since they lie between nuclei that display vibrational spectra and nuclei that display rotational spectra. The structure of these transitional nulei, in particular the nature of the low-lying first excited states |0+2> still pose a great challenge with various theoretical models competing. A new perspective to the understanding of the structure of the N=88 and N=90 nuclei is brought by the proposition that the low-lying first excited 0+ states in these nuclei are not β-vibrations but constitute a second vacuum |0+2> coexisting with the ground state vacuum |0+1>. As part of a campaign studying nuclei near N=90, the low and high spin states of the N=88 nucleus 150Sm have been populated via 148Nd(α, 2n)150Sm at a beam energy of25MeV and 136Xe(18O, 4n)150Sm at 75MeV respectively. These experiments have been conducted on world-class multi-detector gamma-ray spectrometer arrays, namely JUROGAM at Jyvakyla in Finland as well as the AFRODITE at iThemba LABS Cape town here in South Africa. The isotone 152Gd has been studied via 152Sm(α,4n)152Gd at 45MeV fusion evaporation reaction taken with AFRODITE. Preliminary results focusing on the observed band structres for the two isotones 150Sm and 152Gd will be presented.