Studies of pear-shaped nuclei using accelerated radioactive beams



Gaffney, LP ORCID: 0000-0002-2938-3696, Butler, PA, Scheck, M, Hayes, AB, Wenander, F, Albers, M, Bastin, B, Bauer, C, Blazhev, A, Boenig, S
et al (show 43 more authors) (2013) Studies of pear-shaped nuclei using accelerated radioactive beams. NATURE, 497 (7448). pp. 199-204.

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Abstract

There is strong circumstantial evidence that certain heavy, unstable atomic nuclei are 'octupole deformed', that is, distorted into a pear shape. This contrasts with the more prevalent rugby-ball shape of nuclei with reflection-symmetric, quadrupole deformations. The elusive octupole deformed nuclei are of importance for nuclear structure theory, and also in searches for physics beyond the standard model; any measurable electric-dipole moment (a signature of the latter) is expected to be amplified in such nuclei. Here we determine electric octupole transition strengths (a direct measure of octupole correlations) for short-lived isotopes of radon and radium. Coulomb excitation experiments were performed using accelerated beams of heavy, radioactive ions. Our data on (220)Rn and (224)Ra show clear evidence for stronger octupole deformation in the latter. The results enable discrimination between differing theoretical approaches to octupole correlations, and help to constrain suitable candidates for experimental studies of atomic electric-dipole moments that might reveal extensions to the standard model.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: 139CD Times Cited:16 Cited References Count:50## TULIP Type: Articles/Papers (Journal) ## official_url: <Go to ISI>://000318558200028
Uncontrolled Keywords: reflection-asymmetric nuclei, e4 transition moments, coulomb-excitation, actinide nuclei, dipole-moments, data sheets, states, quadrupole, isotopes, detector
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 05 Jun 2020 07:47
Last Modified: 19 Jan 2023 07:32
DOI: 10.1038/nature12073
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3002727