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9 pags., 8 figs., 4 tabs., Background: The Xe isotopic chain with four valence protons above the Z=50 shell closure is an ideal laboratory for the study of the evolution of nuclear deformation. At the N=82 shell closure, Xe136 presents all characteristics of a doubly closed shell nucleus with a spherical shape. In the very neutron-deficient isotopes close to N=50, the α-decay chain of Xe was investigated to probe the radioactive decay properties near the drip-line and the magicity of Sn100. Additionally, the Xe isotopes present higher order symmetries in the nuclear deformation such as the octupole degree of freedom near N=60 and N=90 or O(6) symmetry in stable isotopes. Purpose: The relevance of the O(6) symmetry has been investigated by measuring the spectroscopic quadrupole moment of the first excited states in Xe124. In the O(6) symmetry limit, the spectroscopic quadrupole moment of collective states is expected to be null. Method: A stable Xe124 beam with energies of 4.03A MeV and 4.11A MeV was used to bombard a natW target at the GANIL facility. Excited states were populated via the safe Coulomb excitation reaction. The collision of the heavy ions with a large Z at low energy make this reaction sensitive to the diagonal E2 matrix element of the excited states. The recoils were detected in the VAMOS++ magnetic spectrometer and the γ rays in the AGATA tracking array. The least squares fitting code gosia was used for the analysis to extract both E2 and M1 transitional and E2 diagonal matrix elements. Results: The rotational ground state band was populated up to the 81+ state as well as the 22+ and 42+ states. Using high precision spectroscopic data to constrain the gosia fit, the spectroscopic quadrupole moments of the 21+, 41+, and 61+ states were determined for the first time. Conclusions: The spectroscopic quadrupole moments were found to be negative, large, and constant in the ground state band underlining the prolate axially deformed ground state band of Xe124. The present experimental data confirm that the O(6) symmetry is substantially broken in Xe124., This work was supported by STFC(UK). This research was also supported by the OASIS Project No. ANR-17-CE31-0026, by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Nuclear Physics, under contract number DE-AC02-06CH11357, by the European Regional Development Fund with Contract No. GINOP-2.3.3-15-2016-00034 and by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion under contract PID2020-118265GB-C41. Work partially supported by Grants FPA2017-84756-C4, PID2020- 118265GB-C4 by MCIN/ AEI /10.13039/501100011033, PROMETEO/2019/005 by Generalitat Valenciana and by the FEDER EU funds.

A lifetime measurement of the 19/2 state in Pb has been performed using the Recoil Distance Doppler-Shift (RDDS) method. The nuclei of interest were produced in multi-nucleon transfer reactions induced by a Pb beam impinging on a Mo enriched target. The beam-like nuclei were detected and identified in terms of their atomic mass number in the VAMOS++ spectrometer while the prompt γ rays were detected by the AGATA tracking array. The measured large reduced transition probability B(E3,19/2→13/2)=40(8) W.u. is the first indication of the octupole phonon at high spin in Pb. An analysis in terms of a particle-octupole-vibration coupling model indicates that the measured B(E3) value in Pb is compatible with the contributions from single-phonon and single particle E3 as well as E3 strength arising from the double-octupole-phonon 6 state, all adding coherently. A crucial aspect of the coupling model, namely the strong mixing between single-hole and the phonon-hole states, is confirmed in a realistic shell-model calculation.

Geant4 Application for Tomography Emission (GATE) is a simulation platform based on GEANT4. It is designed to perform numerical simulations in medical imaging and radiotherapy. It is also used to simulate Emission Tomography (Positron Emission Tomography, PET and Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography, SPECT), Computed Tomography (CT) and Radiotherapy experiments. The purpose of this study is to validate a GATE model of the commercial PET/CT Siemens Biograph, the latest acquisition of the Clinical Hospital of Salamanca. The geometry of the system has been implemented in GATE, including the detector ring, the crystal blocks, the PMTs etc. Radionuclides for all measurements shall be \(^{18}\)F and a cylindrical source type twogamma (which has no attenuation). The GATE simulated results are directly compared to experimental data obtained using a number of NEMA NU-2-2007 performance protocols, including sensitivity and scatter fraction. The PET data generated using GATE can be reconstructed using STIR (Software for Tomographic Imagen Reconstruction). STIR is an open source software, written in C++, consisting of classes, functions and utilities for 3D PET image reconstruction, although it is general enough to accommodate other imaging modalities. Finally we will compare our simulated model with experimental values of the scanner they have at the hospital in Salamanca.

Cosmic ray induced neutrons and muons cause activation of nuclei. Using low-background detectors, constructed with strictly selected materials, and sufficient shielding from the surrounding environmental γ-radiation, one can measure the activation products and deduce information about the flux of neutrons and muons. The results of such a study can be used to improve the shielding for ultra-low counting spectrometry systems. In this work two low-level HPGe detection systems have been used to study the thermal and fast neutron fluxes, as well as the muon flux at three different experimental sites: on the surface, at a depth of 15 m water equivalent (m w.e.) and at 500 m w.e. The study was based on measuring the activation of nuclei in the detector itself and in gold foils. The muons were identified due to their high energy deposition in the detector crystal. Fast and thermal neutron fluxes have been measured since 1985 and estimates of the neutron and muon fluxes are given. The results are discussed and compared to the values obtained by the Kiel Neutron Monitor for the same time period.

The feasibility of the entire process of γ -ray tracking is demonstrated experimentally for the first time. The accuracy of the results is verified by the capability to carry out a Doppler correction of γ -rays emitted in flight. The resolution of the 846.8 keV transition detected with the MARS detector after Coulomb excitation of a 56 Fe beam could be improved from approximately 16 up to 4.6 keV (FWHM). This result corresponds to an obtained position resolution of about 6 mm (FWHM).