Plunger Lifetime Measurements in 102Pd.

Recently, an intense experimental effort has been devoted to the search of empirical proofs of critical-point symmetries in nuclear structure. These symmetries describe shape-phase transitions and provide parameter-free predictions (up to over-all scale factors) for excitation spectra and B(E2) values. This contribution reports on recent plunger-lifetime measurements ON 102Pd carried out at LNL, Legnaro, with the Cologne plunger apparatus coupled to the GASP spectrometer and using the 92Zr(13C,3n)102Pd reaction at 48 MeV. According to the results of our measurements, 102Pd is so far the best known paradigm of the E(5) critical-point symmetry. © 2006 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]