Lowest Excitations inTi56and the PredictedN=34Shell Closure

Recent experimental characterization of the subshell closure at $N=32$ in the Ca, Ti, and Cr isotones has stimulated shell-model calculations that indicated the possibility that the $N=34$ isotones of these same elements could exhibit characteristics of a shell closure, namely, a high energy for the first excited ${2}^{+}$ level. To that end, we have studied the decay of $^{56}\mathrm{S}\mathrm{c}$ produced in fragmentation reactions and identified new $\ensuremath{\gamma}$ rays in the daughter $N=34$ isotone $^{56}\mathrm{T}\mathrm{i}$. The first ${2}^{+}$ level is found at an energy of 1127 keV, well below the expected position that would indicate the presence of an $N=34$ shell closure in $^{56}\mathrm{T}\mathrm{i}$.