β-decay properties of neutron-deficient Pt, Hg, and Pb isotopes

Abstract

Neutron-deficient isotopes in the lead region are well established examples of the shape coexistence phenomenon in nuclei. In this work, bulk and decay properties, including deformation energy curves, charge mean square radii, Gamow-Teller (GT) strength distributions, and β-decay half-lives, are studied in neutron-deficient Pt, Hg, and Pb isotopes. The nuclear structure involved is described microscopically from deformed quasiparticle random-phase approximation calculations with residual interactions in both particle-hole and particle-particle channels, performed on top of a self-consistent deformed quasiparticle Skyrme Hartree-Fock basis. The sensitivity to deformation of the GT strength distributions in those isotopes is proposed as an additional complementary signature of the nuclear shape. The β-decay half-lives resulting from the GT strength distributions are compared to experiment to demonstrate the ability of the method.