Elsevier

Physics Letters B

Volume 660, Issue 4, 28 February 2008, Pages 326-330
Physics Letters B

Neutron–proton pairing competition in N=Z nuclei: Metastable state decays in the proton dripline nuclei 8241Nb and 8643Tc

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2008.01.017Get rights and content
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Abstract

The low-lying structures of the self-conjugate (N=Z) nuclei 8241Nb41 and 8643Tc43 have been investigated using isomeric-decay spectroscopy following the projectile fragmentation of a 107Ag beam. These represent the heaviest odd–odd N=Z nuclei in which internal decays have been identified to date. The resulting level schemes shed light on the shape evolution along the N=Z line between the doubly-magic systems 5628Ni and 10050Sn and support a preference for T=1 states in Tz=0 odd–odd nuclei at low excitation energies associated with a T=1 neutron–proton pairing gap. Comparison with Projected Shell Model calculations suggests that the decay in 82Nb may be interpreted as an isospin-changing K isomer.

PACS

29.30.Kv
23.20.Lv

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