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In the Ge-Sr mass region, isotopes with neutron number $N \leq 40$ are known to feature rapid shape changes with both nucleon number and angular momentum. To gain new insights into their structure, inelastic proton scattering experiments in inverse kinematics were performed on the rare isotopes $^{74,76}$Kr. This work focuses on observables related to the $J^{\pi} = 4^+_1$ states of the Kr isotopes and, in particular, on the hexadecapole degree of freedom. By performing coupled-channels calculations, hexadecapole deformation parameters $\beta_4$ were determined for the $J^{\pi} = 4^+_1$ states of $^{74,76}$Kr from inelastic proton scattering cross sections. Two possible coupled-channels solutions were found. A comparison to predictions from nuclear energy density functional theory, employing both non-relativistic and relativistic functionals, clearly favors the large, positive $\beta_4$ solutions. These $\beta_4$ values are unambiguously linked to the well deformed prolate configuration. Given the $\beta_2 - \beta_4$ trend, established in this work, it appears that $\beta_4$ values could provide a sensitive measure of the nuclear shell structure., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Physics Letters B

Spin–isospin excitations in Nb100 were studied via the Mo100(t,He3) charge-exchange reaction at 115 MeV/u with the goal to constrain theoretical models used to describe the isovector spin response of nuclei. The experiment was performed with a secondary beam of tritons, and 3He particles were analyzed in the S800 magnetic spectrometer. Decay by neutron emission from excited states in Nb100 was observed by using plastic and liquid scintillator arrays. Differential cross sections were analyzed and monopole excitations were revealed by using a multipole decomposition analysis. The Gamow–Teller transition strength observed at low excitation energies, which is important for estimating the electron-capture rate in astrophysical scenarios, was strongly fragmented and reduced compared to single-particle and spherical mean-field models. The consideration of deformation in the theoretical estimates was found to be important to better describe the fragmentation and strengths. A strong excitation of the isovector spin giant monopole resonance was observed, and well reproduced by the mean-field models. Its presence makes the extraction of Gamow–Teller strengths at high excitation energies difficult. The branches for statistical and direct decay by neutron emission were identified in the spectra. The upper limit for the branching ratio by direct decay (integrated over all observed excitations) was determined to be 20±6%. Even though the statistical uncertainties in the neutron-coincident data were too large to perform detailed studies of the decay by neutron emission from individual states and resonances, the experiment demonstrates the feasibility of the method.

Under the assumption that isospin is a good quantum number, symmetry is expected for the transitions from the ground states of T = 1, T z = ±1 nuclei to the common excited states of the T z = 0 nucleus situated between the two nuclei. The symmetry can be studied by comparing the strengths of Gamow-Teller (GT) transitions obtained from a (p, n)-type charge-exchange reaction on a target nucleus with T z = 1 with those from the β-decay of the T z = - 1 nucleus. The A = 58 system is the heaviest for which such a comparison is possible. As a part of the symmetry study, we measured the GT transitions from 58Ni (T z = 1) to 58Cu (T z = 0) by using the zero-degree (3 He, t) reaction at 150 MeV/nucleon. With the achieved resolution of 50 keV, many hitherto unresolved GT states have been identified. The GT transition strengths were obtained for states up to 8 MeV excitation, i.e., near to the Q window limitation ( Q EC = 9.37 MeV) of the β-decay from 58Zn (T z = - 1) to 58Cu. The strength distribution is compared with that from shell-model calculations.

The (He-3,t) reaction on Sn-124 at E(He-3)=199 MeV and the subsequent decay by neutron emission at backward angles were studied in an attempt to distinguish isovector monopole strength (spin-flip and non-spin-flip) at excitation energies above 25 MeV from the nonresonant continuum. The present approach is based on the assumption that a large fraction of the contributions to the continuum result from quasifree processes and breakup-pickup processes which leave the nucleus in low-lying excited states below the threshold for neutron emission. It was found, however, that even at high "apparent" excitation energies (above 30 MeV) the branching ratio for decay by neutrons was as high as similar to 50%, indicating that a large part of the nonresonant continuum may not be due to quasifree processes involving valence neutrons only. No evidence for monopole strength at high excitation energies was found, although the experiment had sufficient sensitivity and accuracy to detect isovector monopole strength based on theoretical predictions calculated in the framework of normal-mode collective excitations and the distorted-wave Born approximation.