Proton–hole excitation in the closed shell nucleus 205Au

The neutron-rich N = 126 nucleus Au-205 has been populated following the relativistic energy projectile fragmentation of E/A = 1 GeV Pb-208, and studied via charged-particle decay spectroscopy. An internal decay with a transition energy of 907(5) keV and a half-life of T-1/2 = 6(2) s has been identified through the observation of the corresponding K and L internal conversion electron lines. The 907 keV energy level corresponds to the pi h(11/2)(-1) proton-hole state and decays both internally into the pi d(3/2)(-1) ground-state and via beta decay into Hg-205. The obtained data provides information on the evolution of single-proton hole energies which are vital inputs of shell model descriptions for nuclei around the Pb-208(82)126 doubly magic core. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.