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Lifetime measurements of low-lying states in odd-mass isotopes ${}^{117, 119}{Te}$ and the nature of vibration in Te isotopes

E. A. Cederlöf ^1,2,*, T. Bäck ¹, J. Nyberg ², C. Qi ¹, A. Ataç¹, T. Braunroth^3,†, T. Calverley ⁴, D. M. Cox ⁴, M. Doncel ^5,‡ et al.

T. Grahn ⁴, P. Greenlees⁴, J. Hilton ⁴, R. Julin⁴, J. Konki ⁴, H. Li⁶, V. Modamio⁷, B. S. Nara Singh^8,§, J. Pakarinen⁴, P. Papadakis ^4,∥, J. Partanen⁴, P. Rahkila ⁴, P. Ruotsalainen⁴, M. Sandzelius⁴, J. Sarén ⁴, C. Scholey⁴, S. Stolze⁴, P. Subramaniam¹, W. Teng⁹, J. Uusitalo⁴, J. J. Valiente-Dobón ¹⁰, and Y. Zhang⁹

¹Department of Physics, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden
²Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, SE-75120 Uppsala, Sweden
³Institut für Kernphysik, Universität zu Köln, 50937 Köln, Germany
⁴Accelerator Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Jyväskylä, FI-40014 Jyväskylä, Finland
⁵Departamento de Física Fundamental, University of Salamanca, E-37008 Salamanca, Spain
⁶Grand Accelérateur National d'Ions Lourds, CEA/DRF-CNRS/IN2P3, Boîte Postale 55027, 14076 Caen cedex 5, France
⁷Department of Physics, University of Oslo, NO-0316 Oslo, Norway
⁸School of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom
⁹Department of Physics, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116029, People's Republic of China
¹⁰INFN, Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro, Legnaro, Italy

^*Contact author: ebbace@kth.se
^†Present address: Gesellschaft für Anlagen und Reaktorsicherheit (GRS) GmbH, Köln, Germany.
^‡Present address: Department of Physics, Stockholm University, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden.
^§Present address: School of Computing Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of the West of Scotland, Paisley PA1 2BE, United Kingdom.
^∥Present address: STFC Daresbury Laboratory, Warrington WA4 4AD, United Kingdom.

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Phys. Rev. C 112, 014321 – Published 21 July, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/fmgd-tj4w

Abstract

Background: With the recent lifetime measurements of the $2^{+}$ states in ${}^{116}{Te}$ and ${}^{118}{Te}$ , the evolution of the collectivity in the midshell region of the Te isotopic chain is starting to reveal itself. However, more information on the structure of the ground-state bands and the nature of the collectivity can be gathered from studying the odd-mass systems, in which lifetimes have not been extensively studied.

Purpose: The purpose of the present work is to investigate the structure of low-lying excited states of the $ν h_{11 / 2}$ band in the odd-mass systems ${}^{117}{Te}$ and ${}^{119}{Te}$ , that correspond to the ground-state band in even-even Te.

Methods: Lifetimes of low-lying states in the $ν h_{11 / 2}$ band of ${}^{117}{Te}$ are measured for the first time and remeasured in ${}^{119}{Te}$ , using the recoil distance Doppler shift technique, and analyzed with the differential decay curve method in coincidence mode.

Results: The lifetimes and $B$ (E2) values of the first two transitions, $15 / 2^{-} \to 11 / 2^{-}$ and $19 / 2^{-} \to 15 / 2^{-}$ , in the $ν h_{11 / 2}$ band, are determined in both ${}^{117}{Te}$ and ${}^{119}{Te}$ . From the lifetimes, the $B$ (E2) values and corresponding $B_{4 / 2}$ ratios are determined. The results are compared to systematics in both even- $A$ and odd- $A$ Te isotopes, as well as with theoretical results from the large-scale shell model and interacting boson model calculations.

Conclusions: While the energy levels of ${}^{117}{Te}$ and ${}^{119}{Te}$ , similarly to ${}^{118}{Te}$ , exhibit textbook vibrational behavior, the unexpectedly small $B_{4 / 2}$ ratios of these odd-mass nuclei point to a puzzling discrepancy and question the vibrational nature of these states.

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Phys. Rev. C 112, 014321– Published 21 July, 2025

Vol. 112, Iss. 1 — July 2025

Received 15 February 2025
Accepted 1 July 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/fmgd-tj4w

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by Bibsam.

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Lifetime measurements of low-lying states in odd-mass isotopes ${}^{117, 119}{Te}$ and the nature of vibration in Te isotopes

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Lifetime measurements of low-lying states in odd-mass isotopes Te117,119 and the nature of vibration in Te isotopes

Abstract

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (48)

Lifetime measurements of low-lying states in odd-mass isotopes ${}^{117, 119}{Te}$ and the nature of vibration in Te isotopes