Search for Collective Oblate Structures in $^{186}$W
ORAL
Abstract
Neutron-rich, A$\approx$180 nuclei exhibit distinctive characteristics that enable a rare transition from prolate to oblate collective rotation at high spins. Recent investigation of prompt rotational structures in $^{180}$Hf provided evidence for a rotational structure that can be associated with collective oblate rotation. Oblate shapes are predicted to become yrast at $\textit{I}\approx$14$\hbar$ in $^{186}$W as compared to $\textit{I}\ge$20$\hbar$ in $^{180}$Hf. Prompt rotational states in $^{186}$W were populated using 725 MeV and 800 MeV $^{136}$Xe beam energies from the ATLAS accelerator incident on a thin enriched $^{186}$W target. Coincident detection of binary reaction fragments and $\gamma$-rays was achieved using the recently upgraded Rochester 4$\pi$ heavy-ion detector array, CHICO2 in conjugation with Gammasphere. Analysis of the data is in progress and will be presented.
*This work is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy.
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