Search for Isovector Valence-Shell Excitations in 140Nd and 142Sm via Coulomb excitation reactions of radioactive ion beams

Conference paper on a search for isovector valence-shell excitations, a proton-neutron out-of-phase oscillation, in ¹⁴⁰Nd and ¹⁴²Sm.

Coulomb excitation of radioactive ion beams, reported in EPJ Web of Conferences. The beams are excited in a target Coulomb field and the gamma decay of the populated states is recorded.

Isovector excitations test whether protons and neutrons in the valence shell move together or against each other. Finding or ruling them out in N=80 isotones constrains the residual proton-neutron interaction.