Eur. Phys. J. A (2009) 42: 407-413
https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2008-10754-7

Regular Article - Experimental Physics

Spectroscopy of exotic ^{121, 123, 125}Ag produced in fragmentation reactions

¹ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland, 20742, College Park, MD, USA
² Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 60439, Argonne, IL, USA
³ National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, Michigan State University, 48824, East Lansing, MI, USA
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Michigan State University, 48824, East Lansing, MI, USA
⁵ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, 48824, East Lansing, MI, USA
⁶ Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, Michigan State University, 48824, East Lansing, MI, USA
⁷ Garsington, OX44, Oxfordshire, UK
⁸ Department of Physics, Oxford University, OXI 3PU, Oxford, UK

^* e-mail: stefanescu@phy.anl.gov

Received: 2 December 2008
Revised: 11 February 2009
Accepted: 27 February 2009
Published online: 21 March 2009

Abstract

Excited states in the neutron-rich ^{121, 123, 125}Ag were studied via the fragmentation of a ¹³⁶Xe beam at 120MeV/nucleon in a thick ⁹Be target. The levels in ¹²¹Ag were populated in the decay of ¹²¹Pd while those assigned to ^{123, 125}Ag were identified via isomer spectroscopy. The transitions identified in ¹²¹Ag are consistent with the -rays reported in ^{117, 119}Ag . The newly observed transitions were placed in the level schemes of ^{123, 125}Ag based on the analysis of - coincidences and the systematics. We attribute the onset of isomerism in the ^{123, 125}Ag isotopes to the drop in energy of the negative-parity levels similar to the 5^- state in the even-even Cd cores. The proposed level scheme for ¹²⁵Ag is well described by the NuShellX shell model calculations.