Experimental study of the beta-delayed neutron decay of N-21

The first spectroscopic study for the beta decay of N-21 is carried out based on beta-n, beta-gamma, and beta-n-gamma coincidence measurements. The neutron-rich N-21 nuclei are produced by the fragmentation of the E/A=68.8 MeV Mg-26 primary beam on a thick Be-9 target and are implanted into a thin plastic scintillator that also plays the role of beta detector. The time of flight of the emitted neutrons following the beta decay are measured by the surrounding neutron sphere and neutron wall arrays. In addition, four clover germanium detectors are used to detect the beta-delayed gamma rays. Thirteen new beta-delayed neutron groups are observed with a total branching ratio of 90.5 +/- 4.2%. The half-life for the beta decay of N-21 is determined to be 82.9 +/- 7.5 ms. The level scheme of O-21 is deduced up to about 9 MeV excitation energy. The experimental results for the beta decay of N-21 are compared to the shell-model calculations.

Theoretical study on spherical proton emission

The proton radioactivity half-lives of spherical proton emitters are investigated within a generalized liquid drop model (GLDM), including the proximity effects between nuclei in a neck and the mass and charge asymmetry. The penetrability is calculated in the WKB approximation and the assault frequency is estimated by the quantum mechanism method considering the structure of the parent nucleus. The spectroscopic factor is taken into account in half-life calculation, which is obtained by employing the relativistic mean field (RMF) theory. The half-lives within the GLDM are compared with the experimental data and other theoretical values. The results show that the GLDM works quite well for spherical proton emitters when the assault frequency is estimated by the quantum mechanical method and the spectroscopic factor is considered.

The beta decay of N-21

The beta-delayed neutron and gamma energy spectra taken from the decay of neutron-rich nucleus N-21 were measured by using the beta - gamma and beta - n coincidence detection method. Thirteen new neutron groups ranging from 0.28MeV to 4.98 MeV and with a total branching ratio of 88.7 +/- 4.2% were observed and presented. One gamma transition with an energy of 1222 keV emitted from the excited state of O-21, and four gamma transitions with energies of 1674, 2397, 2780, and 3175 keV emitted from the excited states of O-20 were identified in the 3 decay chain of N-21. The beta decay half-life for N-21 is determined to be 82.9 +/- 1.9 ms. The uncertainty of half-life is much smaller than the previous result.