On the unusual properties of the 282 keV state in 135Sb

Abstract

Recently the first excited state in 135Sb has been observed at the unexpectedly low excitation energy of only 282keV and interpreted as mainly d 5/2 proton coupled to the 134Sn core. Based on theoretical considerations it was suggested that its low excitation energy is related to a relative shift of the proton d 5/2 and g 7/2 orbits induced by the neutron excess. We have measured the lifetime of the 282keV state by the advanced time-delayed βγγ(t) method. The measured half-life, T 1/2 = 6.1(4)ns, yields exceptionally low limits of B(M1;5/21 +→7/21 +)≤3.0×10-4 μ 2 N and B(E2;5/21 +→7/21 +)≤54e 2 fm 4. These strongly hindered M1 and slow E2 transition rates are similar to those for the transition de-populating the first excited state at 405keV in 211Bi. Results of shell model calculations with realistic interactions are presented. The M1 decay rate was found to be extremely sensistive both to the wave function and to the M1 effective operator.