Blurring the Boundaries: Decays of Multiparticle Isomers at the Proton Drip Line
Carroll, R. J., Page, R. D., Joss, D. T., Uusitalo, J., Darby, I. G., Andgren, K., . . . Simpson, J. (2014). Blurring the Boundaries: Decays of Multiparticle Isomers at the Proton Drip Line. Physical Review Letters, 12 (9), 092501. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.092501
Published in
Physical Review LettersDate
2014Discipline
FysiikkaCopyright
© 2014 American Physical Society. Published in this repository with the kind permission of the publisher.
A multiparticle spin-trap isomer has been discovered in the proton-unbound nucleus 158
73Ta85. The isomer
mainly decays by γ-ray emission with a half-life of 6.1ð1Þ μs. Analysis of the γ-ray data shows that
the isomer lies 2668 keV above the known 9þ state and has a spin 10ℏ higher and negative parity. This
19− isomer also has an 8644(11) keV, 1.4(2)% α-decay branch that populates the 9þ state in 154Lu.
No proton-decay branch from the isomer was identified, despite the isomer being unbound to proton
emission by 3261(14) keV. This remarkable stability against proton emission is compared with theoretical
predictions, and the implications for the extent of observable nuclides are considered.