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Shearman, R.

Publications and source records attributed to Shearman, R..

8 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Shapes, softness, and nonyrast collectivity in 186 W

Nonyrast, excited states in neutron-rich 186 W were populated via inelastic-scattering reactions using beams of 136 Xe nuclei accelerated to 725 and 800 MeV. Levels populated in the reactions were investigated via particle-γ coincidence techniques using the Gammasphere array of high-purity germanium detectors and the compact heavy-ion counter, CHICO2. The K π = 2 + (γ ), K π = 0 + and K π = 2 – (octupole) rotational side bands were extended to spins 14h¯, 12h¯, and 13h¯, respectively. A staggering pattern observed in the energies of levels in the K π = 2 + band was found to be consistent with a potential that gets softer to vibration in the γ degree of freedom with increasing spin. Furthermore, the odd-even staggering of states in the K π = 2 – band was found to exhibit a phase opposite to that seen in the γ band; an effect most probably associated with Coriolis coupling to other, unobserved octupole vibrational bands in 186 W.

150 ≤ A ≤ 189↗
DOE OSTI2019

Observation of a $μs$ isomer in ${134\atop{49}}$ In $_{85}$: Proton-neutron coupling "southeast" of ${132\atop{50}}$ Sn $_{82}$

In this paper, we report on the observation of a microsecond isomeric state in the single-proton-hole, three-neutron-particle nucleus 134 In . The nuclei of interest were produced by in-flight fission of a 238 U beam at the Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory at RIKEN. The isomer depopulates through a γ ray of energy 56.7(1) keV and with a half-life of $T_{1/2}$ = 3.5 (4) $μs$. Based on the comparison with shell-model calculations, we interpret the isomer as the $I^π$ = 5 - member of the $π0g{-1\atop{9/2}}Ⓧv1f{3\atop{7/2}}$ multiplet, decaying to the $I^π$ = 7 - ground state with a reduced-transition probability of $B (E$ 2; 5 - $\rightarrow$ 7 - = 0.53 (6) W. u. Observation of this isomer, and lack of evidence in the current work for a $I^π$ = 5 - isomer decay in 132 In , provides a benchmark of the proton-neutron interaction in the region of the nuclear chart “southeast” of 132 Sn , where experimental information on excited states is sparse.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Nuclear Data Sheets for A=217

The evaluated spectroscopic data are presented in this paper for 12 known nuclides with A=217 (Tl, Pb, Bi, Po, At, Rn, Fr, Ra, Ac, Th, Pa, U). For 217Tl, 217Pb, 217Pa, and 217U nuclei, only information on the ground state is available. Levels in 217 Bi are known only from isomer decay following fragmentation reaction and those in 217 At and 217 Rn only from the α decay of 221 Fr and 221 Ra, respectively. High spin levels in 217 Ra are mainly from 1987SuZY and 2011MuZZ which are a lab report and thesis, respectively. Due to differences between these studies, further experimental study is needed to firmly establish the level scheme. This evaluation was carried out as part of a joint IAEA-ICTP workshop for Nuclear Structure and Decay Data, organized and hosted by the IAEA, Vienna and ICTP, Trieste, Aug 22 to Sept 2 2016. The evaluation work was coordinated by E.A. McCutchan (BNL). Finally, this work supersedes the previous previous A=217 evaluation (2003Ak06) by Y.A. Akovali.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Anomalies in the Charge Yields of Fission Fragments from the U ( n , f ) 238 Reaction

Fast-neutron-induced fission of 238 U at an energy just above the fission threshold is studied with a novel technique which involves the coupling of a high-efficiency γ-ray spectrometer (MINIBALL) to an inverse-kinematics neutron source (LICORNE) to extract charge yields of fission fragments via γ-γ coincidence spectroscopy. Experimental data and fission models are compared and found to be in reasonable agreement for many nuclei; however, significant discrepancies of up to 600% are observed, particularly for isotopes of Sn and Mo. This indicates that these models significantly overestimate the standard 1 fission mode and suggests that spherical shell effects in the nascent fission fragments are less important for low-energy fast-neutron-induced fission than for thermal neutron-induced fission. Finally, this has consequences for understanding and modeling the fission process, for experimental nuclear structure studies of the most neutron-rich nuclei, for future energy applications (e.g., Generation IV reactors which use fast-neutron spectra), and for the reactor antineutrino anomaly.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Production and Study of Neutron-rich Nuclei Using the LICORNE Directional Neutron Source

We have recently successfully demonstrated a new technique for production and study of many of the most exotic neutron-rich nuclei at moderate spins. LICORNE, a newly developed directional inverse-kinematic fast neutron source at the IPN Orsay, was coupled to the MINIBALL high resolution γ-ray spectrometer to study nuclei the furthest from stability using the 238 U(n,f)reaction. This reaction and 232 Th(n,f)are the most neutron-rich fission production mechanisms achievable and can be used to simultaneously populate hundreds of neutron-rich nuclei up to spins of ≈ 16h. High selectivity in the experiment was achieved via tripleγ-ray coincidences and the use of a 400 ns period pulsed neutron beam,a technique which is unavailable to other population mechanisms such as 235 U(nth,f) and 252 Cf(SF). The pulsing allows time correlations to be exploited to separate delayedγrays from isomeric states in the hundreds of nuclei produced, which are then used to cleanly select a particular nucleus and its exotic binary partners. In the recent experiment, several physics cases are simultaneously addressed such as shape coexistence, the evolution of shell closures far from stability, and the spectroscopy of nuclei in the r-process path near N= 82. Overall, preliminary physics results on anomalies in the 238 U(n,f) fission yields and the structure of the 138 Te and100Sr nuclei will soon be published. A future project,ν-ball, to couple LICORNE with a hybrid escape-suppressed spectrometer to refine further the technique and achieve a large increase in the observational limit is discussed.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

γ -soft Ba 146 and the role of nonaxial shapes at N ≈ 90

Low-spin states in the neutron-rich, N = 90 nuclide 146 Ba were populated following β decay of 146 Cs , with the goal of clarifying the development of deformation in barium isotopes through delineation of their nonyrast structures. Fission fragments of 146 Cs were extracted from a 1.7-Ci 252 Cf source and mass selected using the CAlifornium Rare Ion Breeder Upgrade (CARIBU) facility. Low-energy ions were deposited at the center of a box of thin β detectors, surrounded by a highly efficient high-purity Ge array. The new 146 Ba decay scheme now contains 31 excited levels extending up to ~2.5 MeV excitation energy, double what was previously known. These data are compared to predictions from the interacting boson approximation (IBA) model. It appears that the abrupt shape change found at N = 90 in Sm and Gd is much more gradual in Ba and Ce, due to an enhanced role of the γ degree of freedom.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

137 Ba Double Gamma Decay Measurement with GAMMASPHERE

The study of the electromagnetic moments (EM), and decay probability, provides detailed information about nuclear wave functions. The well-know properties of EM interactions are good for extracting information about the motion of nucleons. Higher order EM processes always occur, but are usually too weak to be measured. In the case of a 0 + → 0 + transitions, where a single gamma transition is forbidden, the simultaneous emission of two γ-rays has been studied. An interesting opportunity to further investigate 2-photon emission phenomena is by using a standard 137 Cs source populating, via β-decay, the J π = 11/2 - isomeric state at 662 keV in 137 Ba. In this case, two photon process can have contributions from quadrupole-quadrupole or dipole-octupole multipolarities in direct competition with the high multipolarity M4 decay. Since the yield of the double gamma decay is around six orders of magnitude less than the first order transition, very good statistics are needed in order to observe the phenomena and great care must be taken to suppress the first-order decay. The Gammasphere array is ideal since its configuration allows a good coverage of the angular distribution and the Compton events can be suppressed. Nevertheless the process to understand and eliminate the Compton background is a challenge. Geant4 simulations were carried out to help understand and correct for those factors.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗