The β Decay of 35Mg and the Structure of 35Al

Abstract

Far from the line of beta-stability, the well described shell structure of nuclei falls apart. Near the N = 20 shell closure lies the island of inversion, an area in which the nuclei exhibit ground states deformed with an intruder configuration. The 35Al nucleus is near this region and whether it belongs to the island is a focus of this study. The experiment to study the β decay of 35Mg was performed at TRIUMF Laboratory. Studying the resulting data will provide the information to obtain half-life measurements for 35Mg and 35Al, new level information for 35Al, and provide branching ratios for the feeding of the Si decay chain from Mg. Analyzing the data from the isotope implantation and decay cycles yields spectra featuring the exponential decay of the nuclei. Fitting this curve using data on the half-lives of the daughter nuclei will provide the desired half-lives for 35Mg and 35Al. The level scheme for 35Al will be pieced together through a methodical study of the γγ coincidences with in a βγ time difference gate. A detailed description of the methods for eliminating erroneous and unnecessary data will be presented along with the results. This work is funded in part by the Office of Provost and Research Office of Tennessee Tech University.