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The Gamow-Teller strength distribution of the decay of 186Hg into 186Au has been determined for the first time using the total absorption gamma spectroscopy technique and has been compared with theoretical QRPA calculations using the SLy4 Skyrme force. The measured Gamow-Teller strength distribution and the half-life are described by mixing oblate and prolate configurations independently in the parent and daughter nuclei. In this theoretical framework the best description of the experimental beta strength is obtained with dominantly prolate components for both parent 186Hg and daughter 186Au. The approach also allowed us to determine an upper limit of the oblate component in the parent state. The complexity of the analysis required the development of a new approach in the analysis of the X-ray gated total absorption spectrum.

The β-decay of the even-even nucleus 70Kr with Z=N+2, has been investigated at the Radioactive Ion Beam Factory (RIBF) of the RIKEN Nishina Center using the BigRIPS fragment separator, the ZeroDegree Spectrometer, the WAS3ABI implantation station and the EURICA HPGe cluster array. Fifteen γ-rays associated with the β-decay of 70Kr into 70Br have been identified for the first time, defining ten populated states below Eexc=3300 keV. The half-life of 70Kr was derived with increased precision and found to be t1/2=45.19±0.14 ms. The β-delayed proton emission probability has also been determined as εp=0.545(23)%. An increase in the β-strength to the yrast 1+ state in comparison with the heaviest Z=N+2 system studied so far (62Ge decay) is observed that may indicate increased np correlations in the T=0 channel. The β-decay strength deduced from the results is interpreted in terms of the proton-neutron quasiparticle random-phase approximation (pnQRPA) and also with a schematic model that includes isoscalar and isovector pairing in addition to quadrupole deformation. The application of this last model indicates an approximate realization of pseudo-SU(4) symmetry in this system.

The electric dipole strength distribution in 120Sn has been extracted from proton inelastic scattering experiments at Ep=295 MeV and at forward angles including 0°. It differs from the results of a Sn120(γ,γ′) experiment and peaks at an excitation energy of 8.3 MeV. The total strength corresponds to 2.3(2)% of the energy-weighted sum rule and is more than three times larger than what is observed with the (γ,γ′) reaction. This implies a strong fragmentation of the E1 strength and/or small ground state branching ratios of the excited 1− states. Keywords: Sn120(p,p′), Ep=295 MeV, Relativistic Coulomb excitation, E1 strength below neutron threshold

This study focused on the determination of natural ( 238 U, 232 Th, and 40 K) and artificial ( 137 Cs) radionuclide concentrations both in 55 sediment samples collected from various depths in the Bosphorus and 5 soil samples from the coastline of the Bosphorus, Istanbul, using gamma-ray spectrometry with an HPGe detector. The mean activity concentrations of natural 238 U, 232 Th, and 40 K and anthropogenic 137 Cs were determined to be 11.41 ± 0.21 Bq kg -1 , 6.87 ± 0.16 Bq kg -1 , 369.61 ± 3.41 Bq kg -1 , and 6.54 ± 0.11 Bq kg -1 , respectively, in the sediment samples. The average activity concentrations of 238 U, 232 Th, 40 K, and 137 Cs radionuclides in the soil samples were also measured to be 11.65 ± 0.18 Bq kg -1 , 9.55 ± 0.15 Bq kg -1 , 369.43 ± 3.09 Bq kg -1 , and 4.57 ± 0.09 Bq kg -1 , respectively. Radiological contour maps based on the activity concentrations of natural and artificial radionuclides in the sediment samples for the Bosphorus, Istanbul, were created. The total annual effective doses due to soil samples were calculated to be 34.58 μSv y -1 ., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The activity concentrations of 238 U, 232 Th, 40  K and 137 Cs radionuclides in 25 samples of tobacco leaves grown in Turkey have been measured using a high purity co-axial germanium detector. The measured activity concentrations for 238 U ranged from 3.6 to 22.5 Bq kg -1 with an average of 9.8 Bq kg -1 , for 232 Th from 0.8 to 11.0 Bq kg -1 with an average of 2.4 Bq kg -1 , and for 40  K from 360.3 to 1,479.5 Bq kg -1 with an average of 810.0 Bq kg -1 . The concentrations of 137 Cs, the residue of fallout from the Chernobyl reactor accident, were found to range from 0.2 to 2.1 Bq kg -1 with an average of 0.5 Bq kg -1 . The results indicate that the average activity concentrations of 238 U and 232 Th lie within the range of measured values worldwide, whereas for 40  K the average was found to be higher. The average annual effective radiation doses from the inhalation of the corresponding tobacco smoke by an adult smoking 20 cigarettes per day was deduced to be 93.3 μSv y -1 for 238 U, 193.2 μSv y -1 for 232 Th, 5.6 μSv y -1 for 40  K, and 292.1 μSv y -1 in total. The average annual effective dose from 137 Cs was calculated to be 8.5 nSv y -1 . The resulting average annual effective radiation doses of 0.3 mSv due to the inhalation of natural radiation sources in tobacco were compared with studies worldwide and found much smaller than the worldwide average effective dose of 1.26 mSv. It is concluded that smoking may contribute a non-negligible fraction to the annual effective dose depending on cigarette consumption and activity concentration in tobacco. This study is the first in which natural and anthropogenic radioactivity in tobacco in Turkey was measured. Therefore, it is considered as a baseline study. Further studies are needed to investigate the role of tobacco refinement in the observed reduction of 238 U concentration of refined tobacco., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Even mass neutron-rich niobium isotopes are among the principal contributors to the reactor antineutrino energy spectrum. They are also among the most challenging to measure due to the refractory nature of niobium, and because they exhibit isomeric states lying very close in energy. The β-intensity distributions of ^{100gs,100m}Nb and ^{102gs,102m}Nb β decays have been determined using the total absorption γ-ray spectroscopy technique. The measurements were performed at the upgraded Ion Guide Isotope Separator On-Line facility at the University of Jyväskylä. Here, the double Penning trap system JYFLTRAP was employed to disentangle the β decay of the isomeric states. The new data obtained in this challenging measurement have a large impact in antineutrino summation calculations. For the first time the discrepancy between the summation model and the reactor antineutrino measurements in the region of the shape distortion has been reduced.

Search for a new kind of superfluidity built on collective proton-neutron pairs with aligned spin is performed studying the Gamow-Teller decay of the T=1, J(π)=0+ ground state of (62)Ge into excited states of the odd-odd N=Z nucleus (62)Ga. The experiment is performed at GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Shwerionenforshung with the (62)Ge ions selected by the fragment separator and implanted in a stack of Si-strip detectors, surrounded by the RISING Ge array. A half-life of T1/2=82.9(14)  ms is measured for the (62)Ge ground state. Six excited states of (62)Ga, populated below 2.5 MeV through Gamow-Teller transitions, are identified. Individual Gamow-Teller transition strengths agree well with theoretical predictions of the interacting shell model and the quasiparticle random phase approximation. The absence of any sizable low-lying Gamow-Teller strength in the reported beta-decay experiment supports the hypothesis of a negligible role of coherent T=0 proton-neutron correlations in (62)Ga.

We report the observation of a very exotic decay mode at the proton drip line, the β-delayed γ-proton decay, clearly seen in the β decay of the T_{z}=-2 nucleus ^{56}Zn. Three γ-proton sequences have been observed after the β decay. Here this decay mode, already observed in the sd shell, is seen for the first time in the fp shell. Both γ and proton decays have been taken into account in the estimation of the Fermi and Gamow-Teller strengths. Evidence for fragmentation of the Fermi strength due to strong isospin mixing is found.

Gamow-Teller (GT) transitions in atomic nuclei are sensitive to both nuclear shell structure and effective residual interactions. The nuclear GT excitations were studied for the mass number A = 42, 46, 50, and 54 "f-shell" nuclei in ((3)He, t) charge-exchange reactions. In the (42)Ca → (42)Sc reaction, most of the GT strength is concentrated in the lowest excited state at 0.6 MeV, suggesting the existence of a low-energy GT phonon excitation. As A increases, a high-energy GT phonon excitation develops in the 6-11 MeV region. In the (54)Fe → (54)Co reaction, the high-energy GT phonon excitation mainly carries the GT strength. The existence of these two GT phonon excitations are attributed to the 2 fermionic degrees of freedom in nuclei.

Gamma-ray transitions have been identified for the first time in the extremely neutron-deficient (N=Z+2) nucleus (110)Xe, and the energies of the three lowest excited states in the ground-state band have been deduced. The results establish a breaking of the normal trend of increasing first excited 2(+) and 4(+) level energies as a function of the decreasing neutron number as the N=50 major shell gap is approached for the neutron-deficient Xe isotopes. This unusual feature is suggested to be an effect of enhanced collectivity, possibly arising from isoscalar n-p interactions becoming increasingly important close to the N=Z line.