Search

We used the $^{138}$Ba$(d,α)$ reaction to carry out an in-depth study of states in $^{136}$Cs, up to around 2.5~MeV. In this work, we place emphasis on hitherto unobserved states below the first $1^+$ level, which are important in the context of solar neutrino and fermionic dark matter (FDM) detection in large-scale xenon experiments. We identify for the first time candidate metastable states in $^{136}$Cs, which would allow a real-time detection of solar neutrino and FDM events in xenon detectors, with high background suppression. Our results are also compared with shell-model calculations performed with three Hamiltonians that were previously used to evaluate the nuclear matrix element (NME) for $^{136}$Xe neutrinoless double beta decay. We find that one of these Hamiltonians, which also systematically underestimates the NME compared to the others, dramatically fails to describe the observed low-energy $^{136}$Cs spectrum, while the other two show reasonably good agreement.

We have measured the cross section of the $^{83}$Rb(p,$γ)^{84}$Sr radiative capture reaction in inverse kinematics using a radioactive beam of $^{83}$Rb at incident energies of 2.4 and $2.7 A$ MeV. Prior to the radioactive beam measurement, the $^{84}$Kr(p,$γ)^{85}$Rb radiative capture reaction was measured in inverse kinematics using a stable beam of $^{84}$Kr at an incident energy of $2.7 A$ MeV. The effective relative kinetic energies of these measurements lie within the relevant energy window for the $γ$ process in supernovae. The central values of the measured partial cross sections of both reactions were found to be $0.17-0.42$ times the predictions of statistical model calculations. Assuming the predicted cross section at other energies is reduced by the same factor leads to a slightly higher calculated abundance of the $p$ nucleus $^{84}$Sr, caused by the reduced rate of the $^{84}$Sr($γ$,p)$^{83}$Rb reaction derived from the present measurement., 11 pages, 11 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2109.06775

The isobaric multiplet mass equation (IMME) is known to break down in the first T = 2, A = 32 isospin quintet. In this work we combine high-resolution experimental data with state-of-the-art shell-model calculations to investigate isospin mixing as a possible cause for this violation. The experimental data are used to validate isospin-mixing matrix elements calculated with newly developed shell-model Hamiltonians. Our analysis shows that isospin mixing with nonanalog T = 1 states contributes to the IMME breakdown, making the requirement of an anomalous cubic term inevitable for the multiplet.

Background: The nucleus $^{32}$Mg ($N=20$ and $Z=12$) plays a central role in the so-called "island of inversion" where in the ground states $sd$-shell neutrons are promoted to the $fp$-shell orbitals across the shell gap, resulting in the disappearance of the canonical neutron magic number $N=20$. Purpose: The primary goals of this work are to extend the level scheme of $^{32}$Mg, provide spin-parity assignments to excited states, and discuss the microscopic structure of each state through comparisons with theoretical calculations. Method: In-beam $γ$-ray spectroscopy of $^{32}$Mg was performed using two direct-reaction probes, one-neutron (two-proton) knockout reactions on $^{33}$Mg ($^{34}$Si). Final-state exclusive cross sections and parallel momentum distributions were extracted from the experimental data and compared with eikonal-based reaction model calculations combined with shell-model overlap functions. Results: Owing to the remarkable selectivity of the one-neutron and two-proton knockout reactions, a significantly updated level scheme for $^{32}$Mg, which exhibits negative-parity intruder and positive-parity normal states, was constructed. The experimental results were confronted with four different nuclear structure models. Conclusions: In some of these models, different aspects of $^{32}$Mg and the transition into the island of inversion are well described. However, unexplained discrepancies remain, and even with the help of these state-of-the-art theoretical approaches, the structure of this key nucleus is not yet fully captured.

17 pags., 11 figs., 3 tabs., Background: The nucleus Mg32 (N=20 and Z=12) plays a central role in the so-called "island of inversion,"where in the ground states sd-shell neutrons are promoted to the fp-shell orbitals across the shell gap, resulting in the disappearance of the canonical neutron magic number N=20. Purpose: The primary goals of this work are to extend the level scheme of Mg32, provide spin-parity assignments to excited states, and discuss the microscopic structure of each state through comparisons with theoretical calculations. Method: In-beam γ-ray spectroscopy of Mg32 was performed using two direct-reaction probes: one-neutron (two-proton) knockout reactions on Mg33 (Si34). Final-state exclusive cross sections and parallel momentum distributions were extracted from the experimental data and compared with eikonal-based reaction model calculations combined with shell-model overlap functions. Results: Owing to the remarkable selectivity of the one-neutron and two-proton knockout reactions, a significantly updated level scheme for Mg32, which exhibits negative-parity intruder and positive-parity normal states, was constructed. The experimental results were confronted with four different nuclear structure models. Conclusions: In some of these models, different aspects of Mg32 and the transition into the island of inversion are well described. However, unexplained discrepancies remain, and, even with the help of these state-of-The-Art theoretical approaches, the structure of this key nucleus is not yet fully captured., N.K. acknowledges support of the Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows (18J12542) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT), Japan. K.W. acknowledges support from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Spain) through the “Ramón y Cajal” program RYC-2017- 22007. A.P. is supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (Spain), Grant No. CEX2020- 001007-S funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and Grant No. PGC-2018-94583. The SDPF-M calculations were enabled by the CNS-RIKEN joint project for large-scale nuclear structure calculations and were performed mainly on the Oakforest-PACS supercomputer. N.S. acknowledges support from “Priority Issue on post-K computer” (hp190160) and “Program for Promoting Researches on the Supercomputer Fugaku” (JPMXP1020200105, hp200130, and hp210165) by JICFuS and MEXT, Japan. The IMSRG calculations were performed with an allocation of computing resources on Cedar at WestGrid and Compute Canada and on the Oak Cluster at TRIUMF managed by the University of British Columbia, Department of Advanced Research Computing. J.A.T. acknowledges support from the U.K. Science and Technology Facilities Council Grant No. ST/L005743/1. This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Office of Nuclear Physics, under Grant No. DE-SC0020451 and by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. PHY-1306297. GRETINA was funded by the U.S. DOE, Office of Science. Operation of the array at NSCL is supported by the U.S. NSF under Cooperative Agreement No. PHY-1102511 (NSCL) and DOE under Grant No. DE-AC02-05CH11231 (LBNL).

We use a high resolution $^{32}{\rm S}(d,t)$ measurement to investigate the claimed existence of a 6401(3) keV state in $^{31}$S that may affect the $^{30}{\rm P}(p,\gamma)$ nuclear reaction rate in oxygen-neon (ONe) novae. Our data are shown to exclude the null hypothesis - that the state does not exist - with high significance. Additionally, the data also suggest the existence of a hitherto unreported state at 6648(4) keV. This state corresponds to a $^{30}{\rm P}(p,\gamma)$ resonance at $517(4)$ keV, located below the higher edge of the Gamow window for peak nova temperatures of about 0.4 GK.

The $��$-decay of neutron-rich $^{129}$In into $^{129}$Sn was studied using the GRIFFIN spectrometer at the ISAC facility at TRIUMF. The study observed the half-lives of the ground state and each of the $��$-decaying isomers. The level scheme of $^{129}$Sn has been expanded with thirty-one new $��$-ray transitions and nine new excited levels, leading to a re-evaluation of the $��$-branching ratios and level spin assignments. The observation of the $��$-decay of the (29/2$^{+}$) 1911-keV isomeric state in $^{129}$In is reported for the first time, with a branching ratio of 2.0(5)$\%$.

13 pags., 9 figs., 2 tabs., Excited states of In129 populated following the β decay of Cd129 were experimentally studied with the GRIFFIN spectrometer at the ISAC facility of TRIUMF, Canada. A 480-MeV proton beam was impinged on a uranium carbide target and Cd129 was extracted using the Ion Guide Laser Ion Source (IG-LIS). β and γ rays following the decay of Cd129 were detected with the GRIFFIN spectrometer comprising the plastic scintillator SCEPTAR and 16 high-purity germanium (HPGe) clover-type detectors. From the β-γ-γ coincidence analysis, 32 new transitions and seven new excited states were established, expanding the previously known level scheme of In129. The logft values deduced from the β-feeding intensities suggest that some of the high-lying states were populated by the ν0g7/2→π0g9/2 allowed Gamow-Teller (GT) transition, which indicates that the allowed GT transition is more dominant in the Cd129 decay than previously reported. Observation of fragmented Gamow-Teller strengths is consistent with theoretical calculations., The authors would like to thank the operators at the TRIUMF-ISAC facility for providing the radioactive beam. This work was partially supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Canada Research Chairs Program, NSERC Discovery Grants No. SAPIN-2014-00028 and No. RGPAS 462257-2014, the NSERC CREATE Program IsoSiM (Isotopes for Science and Medicine), the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad under Contract No. FPA2017-84756-C4-2-P, the US National Science Foundation (NSF) under Contract No. NSF14-01574, and the Mexican DGAPA-UNAM program under Contract No. PAPIIT-IN110418. The GRIFFIN spectrometer was funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), TRIUMF, and the University of Guelph. TRIUMF receives federal funding via a contribution agreement with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC). Y.S. would like to thank Jorge Agramunt (IFIC Valencia, Spain) for providing a program for fitting the time distribution of β particles.The authors would like to thank the operators at the TRIUMF-ISAC facility for providing the radioactive beam. This work was partially supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Canada Research Chairs Program, NSERC Discovery Grants No. SAPIN-2014-00028 and No. RGPAS 462257-2014, the NSERC CREATE Program IsoSiM (Isotopes for Science and Medicine), the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad under Contract No. FPA2017-84756-C4-2-P, the US National Science Foundation (NSF) under Contract No. NSF14-01574, and the Mexican DGAPA-UNAM program under Contract No. PAPIIT-IN110418. The GRIFFIN spectrometer was funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), TRIUMF, and the University of Guelph. TRIUMF receives federal funding via a contribution agreement with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC). Y.S. would like to thank Jorge Agramunt (IFIC Valencia, Spain) for providing a program for fitting the time distribution of β particles.

The low-lying structure of semi-magic $^{118}$Sn has been investigated through the $��$-decay of $^{118}$In ($T_{1/2}=4.45$ min) to study shape coexistence via the reduced transition probabilities of states in the 2p-2h proton intruder band. This high-statistics study was carried out at TRIUMF-ISAC with the GRIFFIN spectrometer. In total, 99 transitions have been placed in the level scheme with 43 being newly observed. Three low-lying $��$-ray transitions with energies near 285 keV have been resolved from which the 2$^+_{\mathrm{intr.}} \rightarrow 0^+_{\mathrm{intr.}}$ 284.52-keV transition was determined to have half of the previous branching fraction leading to a $B(E2;2^+_2\rightarrow 0^+_2)$ of 21(4) W.u. compared to 39(7) W.u. from the previous measurement. Calculations using $sd$ IBM-2 with mixing have also been made to compare the experimental $B(E2)$ values to the theoretical values and to make comparisons to the $^{114,116}$Sn isotopes previously studied using the same theoretical model.

Spectroscopy of doubly magic $^{132}_{50}$Sn$_{82}$ has been performed with the GRIFFIN spectrometer at TRIUMF-ISAC following the $��$ decay of $^{132}_{49}$In$_{83}$. The analysis has allowed for the placement of a total of 70 transitions and 29 excited states in $^{132}$Sn. Detailed spectroscopy has also been performed on $^{131}$Sb, resulting from the $��$ decay of $^{131}$Sn, produced from the $��$-delayed neutron decay of $^{132}$In. Measurement of $��$-rays in both $^{131}$Sn and $^{131}$Sb has led to the determination of the $��$-delayed neutron emission probability, $P_{n}$, from $^{132}$In. This is the first time the $P_{n}$ has been measured for this nucleus using $��$ spectroscopy, and the new value of 12.3(4)% is consistent with the most recent $��-n$ counting experiment. Additionally, $��$-$��$ angular correlations have been performed in $^{132}$Sn, supporting the spin assignments of several excited states. Novel ab initio calculations are presented which describe several of the excited states, and these are compared to the experimental spectrum., 14 pages, 7 figures, to be published in Physical Review C

We used a high-resolution magnetic spectrograph to study neutron pair-correlated $0^+$ states in $^{136}$Ba, produced via the $^{138}{\rm Ba}(p,t)$ reaction. In conjunction with state-of-the-art shell model calculations, these data benchmark part of the dominant Gamow-Teller component of the nuclear matrix element (NME) for $^{136}$Xe neutrinoless double beta ($0������$) decay. We demonstrate for the first time an evaluation of part of a $0������$ decay NME by use of an experimental observable, presenting a new avenue of approach for more accurate calculations of $0������$ decay matrix elements.

Background: In the "island of inversion", ground states of neutron-rich $sd$-shell nuclei exhibit strong admixtures of intruder configurations from the $fp$ shell. The nucleus $^{30}$Mg, located at the boundary of the island of inversion, serves as a cornerstone to track the structural evolution as one approaches this region. Purpose: Spin-parity assignments for excited states in $^{30}$Mg, especially negative-parity levels, have yet to be established. In the present work, the nuclear structure of $^{30}$Mg was investigated by in-beam $��$-ray spectroscopy mainly focusing on firm spin-parity determinations. Method: High-intensity rare-isotope beams of $^{31}$Mg, $^{32}$Mg, $^{34}$Si, and $^{35}$P bombarded a Be target to induce nucleon removal reactions populating states in $^{30}$Mg. $��$ rays were detected by the state-of-the-art $��$-ray tracking array GRETINA. For the direct one-neutron removal reaction, final-state exclusive cross sections and parallel momentum distributions were deduced. Multi-nucleon removal reactions from different projectiles were exploited to gain complementary information. Results: With the aid of the parallel momentum distributions, an updated level scheme with revised spin-parity assignments was constructed. Spectroscopic factors associated with each state were also deduced. Conclusions: Results were confronted with large-scale shell-model calculations using two different effective interactions, showing excellent agreement with the present level scheme. However, a marked difference in the spectroscopic factors indicates that the full delineation of the transition into the island of inversion remains a challenge for theoretical models.

A high-precision branching ratio measurement for the superallowed Fermi $��^{+}$ emitter $^{62}$Ga was performed with the Gamma-Ray Infrastructure for Fundamental Investigations of Nuclei (GRIFFIN) spectrometer at the Isotope Separator and Accelerator (ISAC) radioactive ion beam facility at TRIUMF. The high efficiency of the GRIFFIN spectrometer allowed 63 $��$-ray transitions, with intensities down to $\approx$1 part per million (ppm) per $^{62}$Ga $��^{+}$ decay, to be placed in the level scheme of the daughter nucleus $^{62}$Zn, establishing the superallowed $��$ branching ratio for $^{62}$Ga decay to be 99.8577$^{+0.0023}_{-0.0029}\%$, a factor of 4 more precise than the previous world average. For several cascades, $��-��$ angular correlation measurements were performed to assign spins and/or determine the mixing ratios of transitions. In particular, the spin of the 2.342 MeV excited state in the daughter nucleus $^{62}$Zn was definitively assigned as $J = 0$. This assignment resolves a discrepancy between previous measurements and has important implications for the isospin symmetry breaking correction, $��_{C1}$, in $^{62}$Ga superallowed Fermi $��$ decay., A text label in Figure 12 has been corrected compared to the original submission

The $��^-$ decay of $^{47}$K to $^{47}$Ca is an appropriate mechanism for benchmarking interactions spanning the $sd$ and $pf$ shells, but current knowledge of the $��^-$-decay scheme is limited. We have performed a high-resolution, high-efficiency study of the $��^-$-decay of $^{47}$K with the GRIFFIN spectrometer at TRIUMF-ISAC. The study revealed 48 new transitions, a more precise value for the $^{47}$K half-life (17.38(3)~s), and new spin and parity assignments for eight excited states. Levels placed for the first time here raise the highest state observed in $��^-$ decay to within 568(3) keV of the $Q$-value and confirm the previously measured large $��^-$-decay branching ratios to the low-lying states. Previously unobserved $��^-$-feeding to 3/2$^+$ states between 4.5 and 6.1~MeV excitation energy was identified with a total $��^-$-feeding intensity of 1.29(2)\%. The sum of the $B(GT)$ values for these states indicates that the $1s_{1/2}$ proton hole strength near this excitation energy is comparable to the previously known $1s_{1/2}$ proton and neutron hole strengths near 2.6 MeV.

The half-lives of three $��$ decaying states of $^{131}_{~49}$In$_{82}$ have been measured with the GRIFFIN $��$-ray spectrometer at the TRIUMF-ISAC facility to be $T_{1/2}(1/2^-)=328(15)$~ms, $T_{1/2}(9/2^+)=265(8)$~ms, and $T_{1/2}(21/2^+)=323(55)$~ms, respectively. The first observation of $��$-rays following the $��n$ decay of $^{131}$In into $^{130}$Sn is reported. The $��$-delayed neutron emission probability is determined to be $P_{1n} = 12(7)\%$ for the $21/2^+$ state and $2.3(3)\%$ from the combined $1/2^-$ and $9/2^+$ states of $^{131}_{~49}$In$_{82}$ observed in this experiment. A significant expansion of the decay scheme of $^{131}$In, including 17 new excited states and 34 new $��$-ray transitions in $^{131}_{~50}$Sn$_{81}$ is also reported. This leads to large changes in the deduced $��$ branching ratios to some of the low-lying states of $^{131}$Sn compared to previous work with implications for the strength of the first-forbidden $��$ transitions in the vicinity of doubly-magic $^{132}_{~50}$Sn$_{82}$., 14 pages, 15 figures, 5 tables

We report on high-statistics data from the $��^-$ decay of the $^{46}$K $J^��$ = 2$^-$ ground state taken with the GRIFFIN spectrometer located at the TRIUMF-ISAC facility. In total, 199 $��$ rays and 42 excited states were placed in the level scheme, and from the observed $��$ feeding and angular correlations of pairs of cascading $��$ rays, it was possible to assign spins and parities to excited states and determine mixing ratios for selected $��$ rays. The level structure of $^{46}$Ca is compared to theoretical predictions from a microscopic valence-space Hamiltonian derived from two- (NN) and three-nucleon (3N) forces. These calculations are in reasonable agreement with the experimental data and indicate that the protons in this region are not as inert as would be expected for semi-magic nuclei.

The half-lives of isotopes around the $N=82$ shell closure are an important ingredient in astrophysical simulations and strongly influence the magnitude of the second $r$-process abundance peak in the $A\sim130$ region. The most neutron-rich $N=82$ nuclei are not accessible to the current generation of radioactive beam facilities and $r$-process simulations must therefore rely on calculations of the half-lives of the isotopes involved. Half-life measurements of the experimentally accessible nuclei in this region are important in order to benchmark these calculations. The half-life of $^{130}$Cd is particularly important as it is used to tune the Gamow-Teller quenching in shell-model calculations for the $\beta$ decay of other nuclei in this region. In this work, the GRIFFIN $\gamma$-ray spectrometer at the TRIUMF-ISAC facility was used to measure the half-life of $^{130}_{~48}$Cd$_{82}$ to be $T_{1/2}= 126(4)$ ms. In addition, the half-lives of the three $\beta$ decaying states of $^{131}_{~49}$In$_{82}$ were measured to be $T_{1/2}(1/2^-)=328(15)$ ms, $T_{1/2}(9/2^+)=265(8)$ ms, and $T_{1/2}(21/2^+)=323(50)$ ms, respectively, providing an important benchmark for half-life calculations in this region., Comment: Talk presented CIPANP2018. 9 pages, LaTeX, 5 pdf figures, 1 png figure

A high-precision half-life measurement for the superallowed Fermi $��^+$ emitter $^{22}$Mg was performed at the TRIUMF-ISAC facility using a 4$��$ proportional gas counter. The result of $T_{1/2} = 3.87400 \pm 0.00079$ s is a factor of 3 more precise than the previously adopted world average and resolves a discrepancy between the two previously published $^{22}$Mg half-life measurements., 7 pages, 9 figures

R. Dunlop et al. ; 6 págs.; 7 figs.; 1 tab. ; Rapid Communications, The β-decay half-lives of Cd128-130 have been measured with the newly commissioned GRIFFIN γ-ray spectrometer at the TRIUMF-ISAC facility. The time structures of the most intense γ rays emitted following the β decay were used to determine the half-lives of Cd128 and Cd130 to be T1/2=246.2(21) ms and T1/2=126(4) ms, respectively. The half-lives of the 3/2+ and 11/2- states of Cd129 were measured to be T1/2(3/2+)=157(8) ms and T1/2(11/2-)=147(3) ms. The half-lives of the Cd isotopes around the N=82 shell closure are an important ingredient in astrophysical simulations to derive the magnitude of the second r-process abundance peak in the A∼130 region. Our new results are compared with recent literature values and theoretical calculations. ©2016 American Physical Society, This work has been partially supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Canada Research Chairs Program. I.D. and R.C.-F. are supported by NSERC Discovery Grants SAPIN-2014-00028 and RGPAS 462257-2014. A.J. acknowledges financial support by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación under contract FPA2011-29854-C04 and the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad under contract FPA2014- 57196-C5-4-P. S.L.T acknowledges financial support from the U.S. National Science Foundation under contract NSF- 14-01574. E.P.-R. acknowledges financial support from the DGAPA-UNAM under the PASPA program. The GRIFFIN spectrometer was funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, TRIUMF, and the University of Guelph. TRIUMF receives federal funding via a contribution agreement with the National Research Council of Canada.

K. Nowak et al. ; 10 pags., 12 figs., 1 tab. ; Open Access funded by Creative Commons Atribution Licence 3.0, States in the N=28 nucleus Ar46 have been studied by a two-neutron transfer reaction at REX-ISOLDE (CERN). A beam of radioactive Ar44 at an energy of 2.16 AMeV and a tritium-loaded titanium target were used to populate Ar46 by the H3(Ar44,p) two-neutron transfer reaction. Protons emitted from the target were identified in the T-REX silicon detector array. The excitation energies of states in Ar46 have been reconstructed from the measured angles and energies of recoil protons. Angular distributions for three final states were measured and based on the shape of the differential cross section an excited state at 3695 keV was identified as Jπ=0+. The angular differential cross section for the population of different states are compared to calculations using a reaction model employing both sequential and direct transfer of two neutrons. Results are compared to shell-model calculations using state-of-the-art effective interactions. Published by the American Physical Society, This work was supported by the European Commission within the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) through ENSAR (Contract No. 262010), by the German BMBF (Contracts No. 05P12WOFNF, No. 05P12PKFNE, No. 05P15PKCIA, No. 05P12RDCIA, and No. 05P15RDCIA), by the DFG Cluster of Excellence Origin and Structure of the Universe, by HIC for FAIR, by FWO-Vlaanderen (Belgium), by BOF KULeuven (Grant No.GOA/2010/010), by the Interuniversity Attraction Poles Programme initiated by the Belgian Science Policy Office (BriX network P7/12), by the UK Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC), and in part by the Spanish Consolider-Ingenio 2010 Programme CPAN CSD2007-00042

A $^{52}$Cr$(p,t)$$^{50}$Cr two-neutron pickup reaction was performed using the Q3D magnetic spectrograph at the Maier-Leibnitz-Laboratorium in Garching, Germany. Excited states in $^{50}$Cr were observed up to an excitation energy of 5.3 MeV. Despite significantly increased sensitivity and resolution over previous work, no evidence of the previously assigned first excited $0^+$ state was found. As a result, the $0^+_2$ state is reassigned at an excitation energy of $E_x=3895.0(5)$ keV in $^{50}$Cr. This reassignment directly impacts direct searches for a non-analogue Fermi $��^+$ decay branch in $^{50}$Mn. These results also show better systematic agreement with the theoretical predictions for the $0^+$ state spectrum in $^{50}$Cr using the same formalism as the isospin-symmetry-breaking correction calculations for superallowed nuclei. The experimental data are also compared to $ab$-$initio$ shell-model predictions using the IM-SRG formalism based on $NN$ and $3N$ forces from chiral-EFT in the $pf$-shell for the first time., Accepted for Publication in Physical Review C as a Rapid Communication

5 pags., 6 figs., Single-neutron states in the , isotope 79Zn have been populated using the 78Zn(d, p)79Zn transfer reaction at REX-ISOLDE, CERN. The experimental setup allowed the combined detection of protons ejected in the reaction, and of γ rays emitted by 79Zn. The analysis reveals that the lowest excited states populated in the reaction lie at approximately 1 MeV of excitation, and involve neutron orbits above the shell gap. From the analysis of γ-ray data and of proton angular distributions, characteristic of the amount of angular momentum transferred, a configuration was assigned to a state at 983 keV. Comparison with large-scale-shell-model calculations supports a robust neutron shell-closure for 78Ni. These data constitute an important step towards the understanding of the magicity of 78Ni and of the structure of nuclei in the region., This work was supported by the European Commission through the Marie Curie Actions Contracts Nos. PIEFGA-2011-30096 (R.O.) and PIEFGA-2008-219175 (J.P.), by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación under contracts FPA2009-13377-C02 and FPA2011-29854-C04, by the Spanish MEC Consolider – Ingenio 2010, Project No. CDS2007-00042 (CPAN), by FWO-Vlaanderen (Belgium), by GOA/2010/010 (BOF KU Leuven), by the Interuniversity Attraction Poles Programme initiated by the Belgian Science Policy Office (BriX network P7/12), by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme through ENSAR, contract no. RII3-CT-2010-262010, and by the German BMBF under contracts 05P09PKCI5, 05P12PKFNE, 05P12RDCIA and 06DA9036I. R.O., R.C., J.F.W.L., V.L. and J.F.S. also acknowledge support from STFC, Grant Nos. PP/F000944/1, ST/F007590/1, and ST/J000183/2.