Investigating the B(E2) anomaly in $^{144}$Nd by relative Coulomb excitation

Previous work has shown that for a few non-magic nuclei, B$_ {4/2}$ = B(E2; 4$_{1}^{+}$$\rightarrow$2$_{1}^{+}$)/B(E2; 2$_{1} ^{+}$ $\rightarrow$0$_{1}^{+}$) is less than one; this is anomalous in the context of collective models. $^{144}$Nd is a non-magic nucleus with a particularly low B$_{4/2}$ (0.73 $\pm$ 0.09) and as such merits further investigation. A Coulomb excitation experiment was carried out using the 20MV Tandem Van de Graff accelerator at Yale using $^{48}$Ti ions in the range 170-202 MeV on two composite targets: one a mix of $^{142}$Nd and $^{144}$Nd, the other a layered target of $^{148}$Sm and $^{144}$Nd. These data facilitate a relative measurement of B$_{4/2}$ for $^{144}$Nd, and also provide a check that the data in this region is self-consistent. Data analysis is in progress; results of this work will be presented. Work supported by US DOE grants DE-FG02-91ER-40609, DE-FG02- 88ER40417 and DE-FG03-03NA00081.