First Exploration of Neutron Shell Structure Below Lead and Beyond $\mathbf{N}=126$

Abstract

The nuclei below lead but with more than 126 neutrons are crucial to an understanding of the astrophysical $r$-process in producing nuclei heavier than $A\sim 190$. Despite their importance, the structure and properties of these nuclei remain experimentally untested as they are difficult to produce in nuclear reactions with stable beams. In a first exploration of the shell structure of this region, neutron excitations in ${}^{207}$Hg have been probed using the neutron-adding ($d$,$p$) reaction in inverse kinematics. The radioactive beam of ${}^{206}$Hg was delivered to the new ISOLDE Solenoidal Spectrometer at an energy above the Coulomb barrier. The spectroscopy of ${}^{207}$Hg marks a first step in improving our understanding of the relevant structural properties of nuclei involved in a key part of the path of the $r$-process.

arXiv comment6 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (16)

• GW170817: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Neutron Star Inspiral
• Nuclear ground-state masses and deformations: FRDM(2012)
• Nuclear Energy Density Optimization
• Identification of strontium in the merger of two neutron stars
• The impact of individual nuclear properties on $r$-process nucleosynthesis
• Neutron Star Mergers and Nucleosynthesis of Heavy Elements
• The Origin of r-Process Elements in the Milky Way
• r-Process Nucleosynthesis: Connecting Rare-Isotope Beam Facilities with the Cosmos
• Californium-254 and kilonova light curves
• Using excitation-energy dependent fission yields to identify key fissioning nuclei in r-process nucleosynthesis
• $\beta$-delayed fission in $r$-process nucleosynthesis
• Actinide Production in Neutron-Rich Ejecta of a Neutron Star Merger
• Neutron-gamma competition for $\beta$-delayed neutron emission
• Probing the production of actinides under different r-process conditions
• Neutral $s$ States in Loosely Bound Nuclei
• Effect of Finite Binding on the Apparent Spin-Orbit Splitting in Nuclei

Cited by in corpus (10)

• Origin of the Heaviest Elements: the Rapid Neutron-Capture Process
• A two-neutron halo is unveiled in ${}^{29}$F
• Nucleosynthesis and observation of the heaviest elements
• Accessing the Single-Particle Structure of the Pygmy Dipole Resonance in ${}^{208}$Pb
• Charge radii, moments and masses of mercury isotopes across the N = 126 shell closure
• Systematic shell-model study of Rn isotopes with $A=$ 207 to 216 and isomeric states
• Isochronic evolution and the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei
• Shell-model study for ${}^{204-210}$Tl isotopes and core excitations across the $Z=82$ and $N=126$ shell gaps
• Enhancing the performance of solenoidal spectrometers for inverse reactions
• Nuclear data activities for medium mass and heavy nuclei at Los Alamos