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Probing the N=32 Shell Closure below the Magic Proton Number Z=20: Mass Measurements of the Exotic Isotopes ^{52,53}K
M Rosenbusch1, P Ascher2, D Atanasov2
1Institut für Physik, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt Universität Greifswald, 17487 Greifswald, Germany.
Abstract:
The recently confirmed neutron-shell closure at N=32 has been investigated for the first time below the magic proton number Z=20 with mass measurements of the exotic isotopes (52,53)K, the latter being the shortest-lived nuclide investigated at the online mass spectrometer ISOLTRAP. The resulting two-neutron separation energies reveal a 3 MeV shell gap at N=32, slightly lower than for 52Ca, highlighting the doubly magic nature of this nuclide. Skyrme-Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov and ab initio Gorkov-Green function calculations are challenged by the new measurements but reproduce qualitatively the observed shell effect.
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