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Background: The process of β-delayed fission (βDF) provides a versatile tool to study low-energy fission in nuclei far away from the β-stability line, especially for nuclei which do not fission spontaneously. Purpose: The aim of this paper is to investigate systematic trends in βDF partial half-lives. Method: A semi-phenomenological framework was developed to systematically account for the behavior of βDF partial half-lives. Results: The βDF partial half-life appears to exponentially depend on the difference between the Q value for β decay of the parent nucleus and the fission-barrier energy of the daughter (after β decay) product. Such dependence was found to arise naturally from some simple theoretical considerations. Conclusions: This systematic trend was confirmed for experimental βDF partial half-lives spanning over seven orders of magnitude when using fission barriers calculated from either the Thomas-Fermi or the liquid-drop fission model. The same dependence was also observed, although less pronounced, when comparing to fission barriers from the finite-range liquid-drop model or the Thomas-Fermi plus Strutinsky integral method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-energy β-delayed fission of 194,196At and 200,202Fr was studied in detail at the mass separator ISOLDE at CERN. The fission-fragment mass distributions of daughter nuclei 194,196Po and 202Rn indicate a triple-humped structure, marking the transition between asymmetric fission of 178,180Hg and symmetric fission in the light Ra-Rn nuclei. Comparison with the macroscopic-microscopic finite-range liquid-drop model and the self-consistent approach employing the Gogny D1S energy density functional yields discrepancies. This demonstrates once more the need for dynamical fission calculations, because for both models the potential-energy surfaces lack pronounced structures, in contrast to those for the actinide region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The neutron-deficient lead region provides a range of nuclear phenomena, including isomerism at low energies. This phenomenon can be studied by α decay because the degree of hindrance of α decay provides information on the change in nuclear structure of connected states. Purpose: The aim of this work was to investigate the α-decay properties of 200,202Fr and daughter products. Method: Neutron-deficient francium nuclei are produced at ISOLDE-CERN bombarding a UCx target with 1.4 GeV protons. Surface ionization and mass-separation techniques were employed to provide a pure radioactive ion beam at a radiation-detection setup. Results: Due to the very high statistics and the high beam purity, improved decay data for 202Fr and its daughters were obtained. In particular, this data set allowed us to identify many fine-structure α lines with a relative reduced α-decay width up to five orders of magnitude lower as the strongest ground-to-ground state or isomeric-to-isomeric state α-decay transition. In addition, several half-life values were extracted with similar or better precision as compared with the literature. Conclusions: The observation of crossover transitions positioned the isomeric high-spin level of 198At at an excitation energy of 265(3) keV. Half-life values of 4.47(5) s and 1.28(10) s were extracted for the ground state and isomeric state of 198At and 52(3) ms for the ground-state decay of 200Fr. Furthermore, α-decay schemes for 202Fr and its daughter 198At could be constructed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The detailed analysis of the ß-delayed fission data of 180T1 is presented. The experiment was performed by producing, a pure beam of 180T1 by means of highly selective resonance laser ionization followed by mass separation with the ISOLDE (CERN, Geneva) isotope separator. A surprising asymmetric mass distribution of fission fragments from 180Hg, the daughter of 180T1 ß decays, was observed. Here, the energy calibration of the silicon detectors, which is crucial for a proper determination of the fission fragments' energy and mass split, is presented and the total kinetic energy and its dependence on the mass split ratio is discussed. A more precise ß-delayed fission probability PßDF(I80T1) = 3.2(2) x 10-3% was deduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The exotic decay process of β-delayed fission (βDF) has been studied in the neutron-deficient isotope 230Am. The 230Am nuclei were produced in the complete fusion reaction 207Pb(27Al,4n)230Am and separated by using the GARIS gas-filled recoil ion separator. A lower limit for the βDF probability PβDF(230Am)>0.30 was deduced, which so far is the highest value among all known βDF nuclei. The systematics of βDF in the region of 230Am will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The changes in mean-squared charge radii of neutron-deficient gold nuclei have been determined using the in-source, resonance-ionization laser spectroscopy technique, at the ISOLDE facility (CERN). From these new data, nuclear deformations are inferred, revealing a competition between deformed and spherical configurations. The isotopes ^{180,181,182}Au are observed to possess well-deformed ground states and, when moving to lighter masses, a sudden transition to near-spherical shapes is seen in the extremely neutron-deficient nuclides, ^{176,177,179}Au. A case of shape coexistence and shape staggering is identified in ^{178}Au which has a ground and isomeric state with different deformations. These new data reveal a pattern in ground-state deformation unique to the gold isotopes, whereby, when moving from the heavy to light masses, a plateau of well-deformed isotopes exists around the neutron midshell, flanked by near-spherical shapes in the heavier and lighter isotopes-a trend hitherto unseen elsewhere in the nuclear chart. The experimental charge radii are compared to those from Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov calculations using the D1M Gogny interaction and configuration mixing between states of different deformation. The calculations are constrained by the known spins, parities, and magnetic moments of the ground states in gold nuclei and show a good agreement with the experimental results.

The mean-square charge radii of ^{207,208}Hg (Z=80, N=127, 128) have been studied for the first time and those of ^{202,203,206}Hg (N=122, 123, 126) remeasured by the application of in-source resonance-ionization laser spectroscopy at ISOLDE (CERN). The characteristic kink in the charge radii at the N=126 neutron shell closure has been revealed, providing the first information on its behavior below the Z=82 proton shell closure. A theoretical analysis has been performed within relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov and nonrelativistic Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov approaches, considering both the new mercury results and existing lead data. Contrary to previous interpretations, it is demonstrated that both the kink at N=126 and the odd-even staggering (OES) in its vicinity can be described predominately at the mean-field level and that pairing does not need to play a crucial role in their origin. A new OES mechanism is suggested, related to the staggering in the occupation of the different neutron orbitals in odd- and even-A nuclei, facilitated by particle-vibration coupling for odd-A nuclei.