No abstract

The lifetimes of first excited 2 + , 4 + and 6 + states in 98 Zr were measured with the Recoil-Distance Doppler-Shift method in an experiment performed at GANIL. Excited states in 98 Zr were populated using the fission reaction between a 6.2 MeV/u 238 U beam and a 9 Be target. The γ rays were detected with the EXOGAM array in correlation with the fission fragments identified in mass and atomic number in the VAMOS++ spectrometer. Our result shows very small B(E2; 2 + 1 → 0 + 1 ) value in 98 Zr thereby confirming the very sudden onset of collectivity at N = 60. The experimental results are compared to large-scale Monte Carlo Shell model and beyond mean field calculations. The present results indicate coexistence of two additional deformed shapes in this nucleus along with the spherical ground state.The study of various modes of excitations and the associated evolution of nuclear shapes along spin and isospin axes in atomic nuclei is one of the fundamental quests in nuclear physics. While nuclei with "magic numbers" of protons and/or neutrons have spherical ground states, as one moves away, the polarizing effect of added nucleons leads to deformation. Throughout the nuclear landscape, this onset of deformation is usually a gradual process, however in neutron rich nuclei around mass A ∼ 100 the shape change is rather drastic and abrupt. The ground states of Sr and Zr isotopes with N ranging from the magic number N = 50 up to N < 60 are weakly deformed, however, they undergo a rapid shape transition from nearly spherical to well deformed prolate deformations as N = 60 is approached. The sudden nature of shape transition in Sr and Zr isotopes is evident from the abrupt changes in the two neutron separation energies [1] and mean-square charge radii [2, 3], but also from the excitation energies of 2 + 1 states and B(E2) values [4]. On the other hand, in isotopes with Z ≥ 42 the shape change is rather gradual [1,5] showing also characteristic signatures of triaxiality. This strong dependence of the observed spectroscopic properties, both on the number of protons and neutrons, makes the neutron-rich A ∼ 100 nuclei an excellent mass region for testing various theoretical models.Many experimental and theoretical studies have already been reported on the structure of these nuclei. More specifically for the Zr isotopes, the onset of deformation at N = 60 has been described by a number of theoretical models [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19], however, none of the models have been able to successfully reproduce the aforementioned rapid change. Very recently, the abrupt shape changes were correctly described by large-scale Monte-Carlo Shell Model (MCSM) calculations [20,21]. In the so-called type-II shell evolution scenario, the (prolate) deformed states in the isotopes with N ≥ 60 are associated with proton excitations to the 0g 9/2 orbital. Driven by the central and tensor components of the effective (proton-neutron) interactions, these excitations result in a lowering and subsequent filling of the neutron 0g ...