Lifetime measurements of first excited states inC16,18

Abstract

The electric quadrupole transition from the first 2{sup +} state to the ground 0{sup +} state in {sup 18}C was studied through a lifetime measurement by an upgraded recoil shadow method applied to inelastically scattered radioactive {sup 18}C nuclei. The measured mean lifetime is 18.9{+-}0.9(stat){+-}4.4(syst) ps, corresponding to a B(E2;2{sub 1}{sup +}{yields}0{sub g.s.}{sup +}) value of 4.3{+-}0.2{+-}1.0 e{sup 2} fm{sup 4}, or about 1.5 Weisskopf units. The mean lifetime of the first 2{sup +} state in {sup 16}C was remeasured to be 18.3{+-}1.4{+-}4.8 ps, about four times shorter than the value reported previously. The discrepancy between the two results was explained by incorporating the {gamma}-ray angular distribution measured in this work into the previous measurement. These transition strengths are hindered compared to the empirical transition strengths, indicating that the anomalous hindrance observed in {sup 16}C persists in {sup 18}C.