arXiv subjects

E. Diffenderfer

Publications and source records attributed to E. Diffenderfer.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2009

Structure of $^{240}$Pu: Evidence for Octupole Phonon Condensation?

The expanded level structure of $^{240}$Pu available from the present study highlights the role of strong octupole correlations in this nucleus. Besides a delayed alignment in the yrast band, the observations include the presence of both $I^{+}{\to}(I-1)^{-}$ and $I^{-}{\to}(I-1)^{+}$ E1 transitions linking states of the yrast and negative-parity bands at high spin and the presence of an additional even-spin, positive-parity band deexciting exclusively to the negative parity sequence. The observations appear to be consistent with expectations based on the recently proposed concept of octupole phonon condensation.

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arXiv2006

Shell structure at N=28 near the dripline: spectroscopy of $^{42}$Si, $^{43}$P and $^{44}$S

Measurements of the N=28 isotones 42Si, 43P and 44S using one- and two-proton knockout reactions from the radioactive beam nuclei 44S and 46Ar are reported. The knockout reaction cross sections for populating 42Si and 43P and a 184 keV gamma-ray observed in 43P establish that the d_{3/2} and s_{1/2} proton orbits are nearly degenerate in these nuclei and that there is a substantial Z=14 subshell closure separating these two orbits from the d_{5/2} orbit. The increase in the inclusive two-proton knockout cross section from 42Si to 44S demonstrates the importance of the availability of valence protons for determining the cross section. New calculations of the two-proton knockout reactions that include diffractive effects are presented. In addition, it is proposed that a search for the d_{5/2} proton strength in 43P via a higher statistics one-proton knockout experiment could help determine the size of the Z=14 closure.

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arXiv2006

Astrophysical factor for the neutron generator 13C(alpha,n)16O reaction in the AGB stars

The reaction 13C(alpha,n) is considered to be the main source of neutrons for the s-process in AGB stars. At low energies the cross section is dominated by the 1/2+ 6.356 MeV sub-threshold resonance in 17O whose contribution is determined with a very large uncertainty of ~1000% at stellar temperatures. In this work we performed the most precise determination of the low-energy astrophysical S factor using the indirect asymptotic normalization (ANC) technique. The alpha-particle ANC for the sub-threshold state has been measured using the sub-Coulomb alpha-transfer reaction (6Li,d). Using the determined ANC we calculated S(0), which turns out to be an order of magnitude smaller than in the NACRE compilation.

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arXiv2004

$p$-$sd$ shell gap reduction in neutron-rich systems and cross-shell excitations in $^{20}$O

Excited states in $^{20}$O were populated in the reaction $^{10}$Be($^{14}$C,$α$) at Florida State University. Charged particles were detected with a particle telescope consisting of 4 annularly segmented Si surface barrier detectors and $γ$ radiation was detected with the FSU $γ$ detector array. Five new states were observed below 6 MeV from the $α$-$γ$ and $α$-$γ$-$γ$ coincidence data. Shell model calculations suggest that most of the newly observed states are core-excited 1p-1h excitations across the $N = Z = 8$ shell gap. Comparisons between experimental data and calculations for the neutron-rich O and F isotopes imply a steady reduction of the $p$-$sd$ shell gap as neutrons are added.

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