Studies of photon cascades in (α, 2n) and (α, 3n) reactions on rare-earth nuclei

Abstract

The intensity distributions of the ground-state rotational band gamma-ray transitions have been measured for four (α, 2n) and (α, 3n) reactions leading to the same residual doubly even deformed nuclei. For one case, gamma rays were also observed in coincidence with the rotational transitions. The median angular momentum carried away by the ground-state rotational transitions is about 40 % less than would be expected on the basis of a statistical model. The data indicate that the remaining angular momentum is carried away by transitions through rotational bands built on higher excited states. More accurate energy measurements were also performed for some of higher-spin rotational transitions.