Physics Letters B 416 1998.

268273

Lifetime measurements of superdeformed bands in 142 Sm:

A test of the additivity principle for quadrupole moments
G. Hackman a , R.V.F. Janssens a , E.F. Moore b, D. Nisius a , I. Ahmad a ,
M.P. Carpenter a , S.M. Fischer a , T.L. Khoo a , T. Lauritsen a , P. Reiter a
a
Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439, USA
b
North Carolina State Uniersity, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
and Triangle Uniersities Nuclear Laboratory, Durham, NC 27708-0308, USA
Received 28 July 1997
Editor: R.H. Siemssen

Abstract

Lifetime measurements with the Doppler shift attenuation method have been performed for the two superdeformed SD.
bands of 142 Sm. The inferred transition quadrupole moments, Q0 , are 11.7 " 0.1 eb for the yrast SD band and 13.2q0.8
y0.7 eb
for the excited SD band. These results are consistent with expectations from mean-field calculations, and indicate that the
proposed additivity of contributions of individual orbitals to Q0 is valid for SD nuclei over an extended mass range in the
vicinity of 152 Dy. Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

PACS: 27.60.q w; 23.20.Lv; 21.10.Re; 21.60.Ev

Recently, a number of high-precision lifetime
measurements have been performed for superde-
formed SD. bands in several regions of the periodic
table w14x. The inferred transition quadrupole mo-
ments, Q 0 , have provided new information on the
structure of SD bands. In particular, these Q 0 mo-
ments address important issues such as the impact of
the occupation of specific orbitals on deformation
and the understanding of the mechanisms. responsi-
ble for the so-called identical bands w5x. At pre-
sent, the Q 0 moments measured in SD nuclei near A
; 150 truly stand out. While Q 0 moments of SD
bands in nuclei near 132 Ce w3x and 192,194 Hg w4x do
not show substantial deviations from each other,
even in cases where the dynamic moments of inertia
J 2. differ appreciably, the Q0 moments of yrast SD
bands in nuclei around 152 Dy exhibit significant
variations, and differences between Q0 moments for
excited SD bands within a nucleus have been seen as
well w1,2x. A dramatic example is an excited SD
band in 149 Gd band D. for which Q0 s 17.5 " 0.6
eb, a value larger than that measured for the 149 Gd
yrast band Q0 s 15.0 " 0.2 eb., but equal within
errors to that of the 152 Dy yrast band Q0 s 17.5 "
0.2 eb. w1x. The latter observation is particularly
significant because band D in 149 Gd also shares an
identical bands relationship with the 152 Dy yrast
band; i.e., the two bands have the same dynamic
moment of inertia J 2. J 2. s 4rD Eg , where
D Eg is the difference in energy of consecutive in-
band transitions..
In analogy with the well-documented principle of
additivity of alignments in the cranking model w6,7x,
the results of Refs. w1,2x led to the suggestion that

0370-2693r98r$19.00 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

PII S 0 3 7 0 - 2 6 9 3 9 7 . 0 1 2 4 4 - 6
changes in Q0 moments with the occupation of
intruder orbitals are also additive. This suggestion is
supported by the fact that the occupancy of a specific
orbital results in a well-defined shape change in
Nilsson-Strutinsky cranking calculations w1x. Its va-
lidity was shown explicitly in the Hartree-Fock cal-
culations of Ref. w8x and, subsequently, in the work
of Ref. w9x. Thus, from measured Q0 moments in the
151
151,152 Dy and Tb yrast SD bands with respective
high-N intruder configurations p 6 4n 7 1 , p 6 4n 7 2 and
p 6 3n 7 2 w10x., Nisius et al. w2x extracted the contribu-
tions d Q for the p 6 4 and n 71 orbitals 1. They then
showed that the difference in the Q 0 moments of the
149
Gd and 152 Dy yrast SD bands follows from the
proposed p 6 2n 7 1 configuration of the 149 Gd band.
Furthermore, the additivity also explains, at least in
part, the equality of the Q 0 moments of the
149 GdD., 152 Dy. identical band pair, since these
two bands are proposed to have the same intruder
configuration and differ only in the occupation of
low-j orbitals with smaller d Q contributions.
Whether the concepts of additivity and configuration
dependence of Q0 moments are applicable only in
the immediate vicinity of 152 Dy or can be extended
to a larger region of SD nuclei remains to be investi-
gated experimentally. The results presented here for
the 142 Sm nucleus address this issue.
At present, two SD bands are known in 142 Sm
w11,12x. A p 6 1n 7 0 intruder configuration has been
associated with the yrast band band A. and this
assignment fits well within the systematics of the
region w11x . The excited SD band band B w12x. is
noteworthy because it is isospectral to band 2 in
146
Gd w13x for g-ray energies above ; 1 MeV. As
with other identical SD bands, it has been proposed
that these two bands share the same high-N configu-
ration, i.e. p 6 2n 7 1. However, at the deformation
associated with the yrast SD band, this p 6 2n 7 1
configuration is calculated to lie at too high an
excitation energy in 142 Sm to be seen in an experi-
ment. It was then suggested that the two SD bands in
1
Following the convention used in w7,10x and elsewhere,
p n . Nk denotes the k th lowest orbital in the proton neutron.
shell with major oscillator quantum number N, while p n . N m
denotes occupation of the lowest orbitals up to and including the
mth in that shell.
142 Sm are associated with different deformations w12x.
Cranked Hartree-Fock HF. calculations w14x predict
that the 142 Sm p 6 2n 7 1 configuration has a 13%
larger Q 0 moment than the p 6 1n 7 0 yrast configura-
tion, and that this larger deformation reduces the
energy of the n 71 and p 6 2 orbitals, bringing them
close enough to the Fermi surface to be active. Thus,
in addition to testing the Q 0 additivity principle, the
measurement of the Q0 moments also provides the
opportunity to test an interpretation which requires
this drastic difference in deformation between the
two SD bands.
The measurement was performed with the
Doppler-shift attenuation method DSAM. w15x using
a target consisting of a 1 mgrcm2 124 Sn layer evapo-
rated on 15 mgrcm2 of Au, with a thin 50 m grcm2
buffer layer of Al between the Sn and Au to prevent
the migration of the Sn material into the Au stopper.
States in 142 Sm were populated via the
124
Sn 24 Mg,6n. reaction with a 145 MeV beam from
the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 88 Cy-
clotron. This reaction had been used previously to
populate the 142 Sm SD states w11,12x . Gamma rays
were detected with Gammasphere w16x which con-
sisted at the time of 91 Compton-suppressed Ge
spectrometers arranged in seventeen rings, each lo-
cated at a unique angle u with respect to the beam
axis. A total of 2 = 10 9 events was collected where
four or more suppressed Ge detectors were required
to fire in prompt coincidence.
In the analysis, spectra of the SD transitions were
created for the various detector rings by requiring a
coincidence among any of three g rays in the band
of interest see Fig. 1.. In the case of band A, spectra
with suitable statistics were obtained at each of the
seventeen Gammasphere angles. Fractions of the full
Doppler shift F t . were measured from the g-ray
centroids Eg in each of the angle sorted spectra; i.e.,
fits of Eg versus cos u . were performed using the
first-order Doppler shift expression Egs Eg 0 w1 q
b 0 F t .cos u .x to extract the F t . values and un-
shifted g-ray energies Eg 0 . The value of b 0 corre-
sponds to the initial recoil velocity of a residue
formed in the center of the target and was calculated
to be b 0 s 0rc s 0.0183. The intensity of the tran-
sitions in band B is only ; 20% of that in band A
w12x. As a result, the coincidence spectra from adja-
cent rings were added together for this band and the
Fig. 1. Sum of triple-gated, background-subtracted coincidence spectra for the 142 Sm SD bands. Ring-by-ring energy-dependent Doppler
corrections were applied using the best-fit F t . curves in Fig. 2. A spectrum from a single ring of detectors at a given angle u would have
; 5 y 10% of the counts in the sum spectra. Unless otherwise noted, uncertainties in Eg are 0.1 keV for band A and 0.2 keV for band B.
F t . values could not be measured for the transitions marked with asterisks. Note that the highest-energy transition in band A is 1798 keV,
and there is no evidence in this spectrum for the 1783 keV transition reported in Ref. w11x.

F t . values were extracted for the appropriate aver-
age cos u .. The systematic uncertainty introduced by
the method was found to be negligible by performing
the same analysis for band A and comparing it to the
results obtained from the full-angle sort. The F t .
values deduced from the analysis are presented as a
function of the transition energy in Fig. 2 together
with calculated curves corresponding to the best
values obtained for the quadrupole moment Q 0 . The
calculations were performed with the code FITFTAU
which is described in Refs. w2,17,18x. The average
recoil velocity at which the decay from a particular
SD state occurs is calculated under the following
assumptions: 1. the Q0 values are postulated to be
the same for all SD levels within a band, 2. the
sidefeeding into each SD state is approximated by a
single rotational cascade of n sf transitions, having
the same dynamic moment of inertia J 2. as the
main band, controlled by a sidefeeding quadrupole
moment Qsf which is assumed to remain the same
throughout an entire SD band. The detailed slowing
down histories in the target, in the Al buffer and in
the Au backing were calculated with the 1995 ver-
sion of the code TRIM by Ziegler w19x.
As can be seen from Fig. 2, the fit to the F t .
values is satisfactory: a clear minimum exists in the
x 2 surface insert in Fig. 2. and the calculated
curves match well with the data points. For band A,
the reduced x 2 minimum of 1.4 was found for
Q0 s 11.7 " 0.1 eb and Qsf s 8.9 " 0.6 eb, with n sf
.8
s 5. For band B, values of Q0 s 13.2q0 y0.7 eb and
q1 .8 2
Qsf s 6.8y1.0 yield a minimum x rn s 0.7 with
n sf s 5.. It is important to note that the errors quoted
here reflect only the statistical uncertainties in the
Fig. 2. Measured fractional-shift F t . as a function of g-ray
energy and best-fit curves as described in the text for the 142 Sm
SD bands. Dashed lines show the range of initial recoil velocities
within the target. Insets: plots of the x 2 Q0 ,Qsf . surfaces. Sym-
bols indicate the location of the minima, with contours plotted in
increments of one.
measurement of the g-ray centroids Eg. An additional
10 y 15% systematic uncertainty, coming mainly
from the knowledge of the stopping powers, should
be included when comparisons with theoretical cal-
culations or other Q0 measurements are being made.
It is noteworthy that in the fits to both bands the
Qsf moment is smaller than the in-band Q0 moment.
In the works of Refs. w1,2x the sidefeeding in A
; 150 SD nuclei was found to be characterized by
moments of the same magnitude as the in-band
moment. On the other hand, in SD bands near A s
190, the sidefeeding has been found to exhibit the
same characteristics as observed here w4x. The impact
of the description of the sidefeeding on Q0 was
investigated and found to be very small. For band A,
varying n sf between 3 and 7 resulted in values of Qsf
which remained consistently smaller than Q0 , and
changes in Q 0 itself were much less than the statisti-
cal uncertainty, while the reduced x 2 changed by no
more than 0.01. Similar findings hold for band B. It
is concluded that the side-feeding profile, while not
entirely understood, is not critical and does not affect
the interpretation of the results discussed below.
The measured Q0 moments for bands A and B are
quite different: the situation resembles closely that
reported in Refs. w1,2x for SD bands in the Gd and
Dy isotopes rather than that seen in SD nuclei of
either the A ; 130 or A ; 190 regions see discus-
sion above.. Hence, it is suggested that SD nuclei of
the A ; 140 region can be regarded as members of
the 152 Dy family rather than as members of a sepa-
rate class of SD nuclei forming a bridge between the
A ; 130 and A ; 150 regions, as suggested in Ref.
w20x. The close relation between 142 Sm and 152 Dy
finds its origin in the fact that the n 7 and p 6
orbitals are active in SD nuclei at A ; 140 and
; 150, while they are too far from the Fermi surface
in the A ; 130 region to exert an influence in the
second minimum. These orbitals are also active in
the A ; 190 region, but in that case the effects of
pairing dramatically reduce variations in Q0 mo-
ments from band to band.
For the p 6 1n 7 0 yrast SD configuration, relativis-
tic mean-field calculations w21x predict a Q0 moment
of 12.2 eb at I ; 30" and of 11.5 eb at I ; 60", and
the HF calculations of Ref. w14x give a Q0 moment
varying with the rotational frequency " v . from
12.2 eb at " v s 0.5 MeV to 11.7 eb at " v s 0.9
MeV. The numbers compare well with the experi-
mental value of Q0 s 11.7 " 0.1 eb, especially when
the uncertainties regarding stopping powers are taken
into account. Furthermore, the HF calculations pre-
dict a Q0 moment of 14.0 eb at " v s 0.5 MeV
dropping to 13.1 eb at " v s 0.9 MeV for the p 6 2n 7 1
intruder configuration proposed for band B in Ref.
w12x. Thus, not only do these calculations reproduce
the relative increase of the Q 0 moment between band
A and B, but the absolute value is computed satisfac-
torily as well. It should be kept in mind, however,
that a small deficiency remains in these HF calcula-
tions: the calculated J 2. values are slightly too
high by ; 10%. w12x.
Before considering theoretical calculations w8,9x
which make specific predictions for the contributions
of individual orbitals to the Q0 moment, a simple
empirical test of the additivity principle for this
quantity can be performed by expressing the config-
urations of bands A and B in terms of holes in the
152
Dy SD core, and subsequently calculating the
expected Q 0 moments from that measured for 152 Dy
with d Q values for the hole states taken solely from
experimental data w1,2x. For the purpose of this dis-
cussion it is assumed that the valence orbitals in
A ; 140 y 155 SD nuclei can be classified into the
following three categories: a. the high-j, unnatural
parity intruder orbitals p 6 and n 7; b. high-j, natu-
ral parity orbitals, i.e. the w642x5r2 and w651x1r2
neutron orbitals; and c. all other orbitals. The first
two categories include the orbitals thought to be
responsible for the differences in J 2. moments
amongst A ; 150 SD bands, and the third includes
orbitals playing a role in identical-bands pairs w5,8
10x. All particles within a given category are as-
sumed to contribute the same d Q value. This is a
drastic simplification, as detailed calculations e.g.
Ref. w8x. predict differences in d Q for specific or-
bitals within the above categories. However, these
differences are smaller than or of the same order as
the statistical uncertainties in the available data, and
the simplification is thought to be a reasonable ap-
proximation. The Q0 moment of any A ; 150 SD
band then can be written as
Q0 s Q0
152
Dy . y D a P d Q a y D b P d Q b y D c P d Q c
1.
where D a,b,c . correspond to the number of holes
in the different categories of orbitals relative to
152
Dy. From the difference in Q 0 moments between
the 152 Dy and 149 Gd yrast SD bands w1,2x, where
D b s D c s 0 and D a s 3, the value d Q a ; 0.8 eb is
derived. The value Q b ; 0.4 eb can be obtained from
a comparison of 148,149 Gd SD bands w1x. The adopted
value d Q c ; 0 reflects the fact that orbitals of type c
are calculated to be much less shape driving than
those in the other two categories. For 142 Smband
A, the following values apply: D a s 5, D b s 4 and
D c s 1 and Eq. 1. becomes: Q0 band A. s 17.5 y
5 P 0.8 y 4 P 0.4 y 1 P 0. eb s 11.9 eb, which com-
pares well to the measured value of 11.7 " 0.1 eb.
Band B provides another test of this approach.
For this band D a s 3, D b s 3, D c s 4, and Eq. 1.
gives 13.9 eb, i.e. a difference of 2 eb with respect to
band A, which compares well to the measured differ-
ence of 1.5 " 0.8 eb. Although the uncertainties in
the measurement for band B are too large to make a
definitive statement, it appears that a simple additiv-
ity picture is at least consistent with the available
data. Thus, the present results indicate that the addi-
tivity principle, which applies near 152 Dy, extends to
the very limits of the SD region, i.e. to 142 Sm. Some
additional words of caution are, however, in order.
Besides the simplifying assumptions made above
concerning the classification of the orbitals and the
choice of the adopted d Q a, b,c values, it should also
be kept in mind that the comparisons involve input
from three separate measurements those of Refs. w1x
and w2x and the present data. and that a 10-15%
systematic uncertainty should apply. However, the
same tabulated stopping powers were used in all
three analyses and the same computer code was used
in Ref. w2x and in the present work. Furthermore, it is
encouraging that the Q 0 measurements for 152 Dy in
Refs. w1x and w2x are also in excellent agreement.
The present data also support the detailed theoret-
ical treatments w8,9x of the additivity of Q0 moments.
In Ref. w9x, the sum of single-particle contributions
d Q for holes leading to 142 Sm is 6.5 eb, with a
calculated Q0 moment in 152 Dy of 18.9 eb. Renor-
malizing these calculations to match the experimen-
tal Q0 value for 152 Dy results in a calculated Q 0
moment of 11.5 eb for 142 Smband A. In Ref. w8x,
d Q values were extracted from Hartree-Fock mean-
field calculations with the SkP force for many but
not all. of the hole states necessary to construct the
142
Smband A Q0 moment by additivity. These
calculations yield a moment of 11.9 eb, under the
reasonable assumption that orbitals not reported in
Ref. w8x have d Q contributions close to that of an
orbital belonging to the same major oscillator shell
with nearly the same asymptotic quantum numbers.
These Hartree-Fock calculations also give a differ-
ence between bands A and B of 1.3 y 1.6 eb, de-
pending on the choice of class b and c particle-hole
excitations. Thus, for both theoretical descriptions,
the Q0 moments derived by additivity are in satisfac-
tory agreement with the measured data. It is worth
noting that in these calculations the d Q contribu-
tions, while varying in details, are for the most part
consistent with the simple approach leading to Eq.
1..
In conclusion, Q 0 moments of 11.7 " 0.1 eb and
.8 142
13.2q0y0 .7 eb have been measured in Sm for SD
bands A and B, respectively. The results agree with a
description implying a difference between the defor-
mations associated with the two bands. The results
also agree with the additivity principle of quadrupole
moments introduced originally in Ref. w8x. Further
experimental tests of the concepts discussed here are
desirable. For example, a high-precision Q0 mea-
surement of the SD bands in 146 Gd is needed for a
detailed comparison of the moments of the pair of
identical bands 142 Sm-band B, 146 Gd-band 2. 2 , and
lifetime measurements on yrast SD bands in neigh-
boring nuclei would be most useful to test further the
additivity principle.
Acknowledgements
We thank the staff of the 88-inch cyclotron facil-
ity at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for
2 146
At present, the available lifetime data for
large associated errors w22x.
providing the beam, John Greene for manufacturing
high-quality, reliable targets, and W. Nazarewicz, I.
Ragnarsson and R.M. Clark for stimulating discus-
sions. This work is supported by the US Department
of Energy under Contract Nos. W-31-109-ENG-38
and DE-FG05-88ER40411. G.H. acknowledges par-
tial support from NSERC Canada..
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