Decay and Fission Hindrance of Two- and Four-Quasiparticle K Isomers in Rf 254

H. M. David, J. Chen, D. Seweryniak*, F. G. Kondev, J. M. Gates, K. E. Gregorich, I. Ahmad, M. Albers, M. Alcorta, B. B. Back, B. Baartman, P. F. Bertone, L. A. Bernstein, C. M. Campbell, M. P. Carpenter, C. J. Chiara, R. M. Clark, M. Cromaz, D. T. Doherty, G. D. DracoulisN. E. Esker, P. Fallon, O. R. Gothe, J. P. Greene, P. T. Greenlees, D. J. Hartley, K. Hauschild, C. R. Hoffman, S. S. Hota, R. V.F. Janssens, T. L. Khoo, J. Konki, J. T. Kwarsick, T. Lauritsen, A. O. Macchiavelli, P. R. Mudder, C. Nair, Y. Qiu, J. Rissanen, A. M. Rogers, P. Ruotsalainen, G. Savard, S. Stolze, A. Wiens, S. Zhu

*Corresponding author for this work

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    Abstract

    Two isomers decaying by electromagnetic transitions with half-lives of 4.7(1.1) and 247(73)μs have been discovered in the heavy Rf254 nucleus. The observation of the shorter-lived isomer was made possible by a novel application of a digital data acquisition system. The isomers were interpreted as the Kπ=8-, ν2(7/2+[624],9/2-[734]) two-quasineutron and the Kπ=16+, 8-ν2(7/2+[624],9/2-[734])⊗ - 8-π2(7/2-[514],9/2+[624]) four-quasiparticle configurations, respectively. Surprisingly, the lifetime of the two-quasiparticle isomer is more than 4 orders of magnitude shorter than what has been observed for analogous isomers in the lighter N=150 isotones. The four-quasiparticle isomer is longer lived than the Rf254 ground state that decays exclusively by spontaneous fission with a half-life of 23.2(1.1)μs. The absence of sizable fission branches from either of the isomers implies unprecedented fission hindrance relative to the ground state.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number132502
    JournalPhysical Review Letters
    Volume115
    Issue number3
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 24 Sept 2015

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