Cd-128: ugly duckling or provocative young swan

In this presentation, gamma ray spectra will be presented that arise from the decay of microsecond level isomers in $^{125,126,127,128,129}$Cd. These nuclei have been produced in fragmentation reactions at the NSCL, and identified using the beta counting system and SEGA gamma-ray detector array. Proposed level schemes for these nuclei will be shown that include the 2$^{+}$ and 4$^{+}$ energies for $^{126,128}$Cd that have been previously identified in radioactive decay. Emphasis will be on the structure of $^{128}$Cd for which the proposed 2$^{+}$ and 4$^{+}$ levels at 645 and 1428 keV, respectively, are far below the results from recent shell-model calculations. These structures are interpreted relative to the level structure of adjacent $^{115-124}$Cd $^{130}$Cd, $^{130}$In, and $^{125-134}$Sn isotopes. The possibility of weakened neutron-neutron and proton-neutron interaction strength will be discussed.