Search for the two-phonon octupole vibrational state in 208Pb

We performed an experiment to search for the two-phonon octupole vibrational state in {sup 208}Pb. Thick targets of {sup 208}Pb, {sup 209}Bi, {sup 58,64}Ni, and {sup 160}Gd were bombarded with 1305 MeV beams of were bombard {sup 208}Pb supplied by ATLAS. Gamma rays were detected using the Argonne-Notre Dame BGO gamma-ray facility, consisting of 12 Compton-suppressed germanium detectors surrounding an array of 50 BGO scintillators. We identified some 30 known gamma rays from {sup 208}Pb in the spectra gated by the 5{sup -} {yields} 3{sup -} and 3{sup -} {yields} 0{sup +} transitions in {sup 208}Pb. In addition, after unfolding these spectra for Compton response, we observed broad coincident structures in the energy region expected for the 2-phonon states. Furthermore, we confirmed the placement of a 2485 keV line observed previously in {sup 207}Pb and find no evidence consistent with the placement of this line in {sup 208}Pb. We are currently in the process of investigating the origin of the broadened lines observed in the spectra, extracting the excitation probability of states in {sup 208}Pb, and determining the relative probability of mutual excitation and neutron transfer in this reaction. An additional experiment is also being performed to collect much highermore » statistics germanium-germanium coincidence data for the thick {sup 208}Pb target.« less