Toward the limit of nuclear binding on the N = Z line: Spectroscopy of Cd-96

A gamma -decaying isomeric state (tau(1/2) = 197(-17)(+19) ns) has been identified in Cd-96, which is one alpha particle away from the last known bound N = Z nucleus, Sn-100. Comparison of the results with shell-model calculations has allowed a tentative experimental level scheme to be deduced and the isomer to be interpreted as a medium-spin negative-parity spin trap based on the coupling of isoscalar (T = 0) and isovector (T = 1) neutron-proton pairs. The data also suggest evidence for the population of a 9(+) T = 1 state, which is predicted by shell-model calculations to be yrast. Such a low-lying T = 1 state, which is unknown in lighter mass even-even self-conjugate nuclei, can also be interpreted in terms of the coupling of T = 0 and T = 1 neutron-proton pairs.