Nuclear structure studies in the A=136 region using transfer reactions
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Date
2018
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of the Western Cape
Abstract
This thesis describes research work undertaken to study neutron pairing correlations
in 136Ba via the 138Ba(p, t) pair transfer reaction and to perform
high-precision spectroscopy of low-lying states in 136Cs using the 138Ba(d, )
reaction. The aim of this project was to provide useful spectroscopic information
relevant for matrix element calculations of 136Xe neutrinoless double
beta decay. This work is relevant because neutrinoless double beta decays
are standard-model-forbidden lepton number violating processes, which if observed,
would establish the Majorana nature of the neutrinos and also determine
the absolute mass scale of the light Majorana neutrinos.
Our experiments show a signi cant fragmentation of the two-neutron transfer
(p, t) strength to excited 0+ states in 136Ba, which could signi cantly affect
future matrix element calculations. Additionally we obtain information on
65 new states in 136Cs observed in this work. It is anticipated that these
new information will play a vital role in improving the precision of calculated
matrix elements for 136Xe double beta decays.
Description
Philosophiae Doctor - PhD
Keywords
Neutron pairing correlations, Nuclear structure, A=136 region, Transfer reactions