Study of the Isobaric Triplet Mg28Al28Si28

Abstract
The nuclide Mg28 has been produced by betatron irradiation and cyclotron bombardments in the following reactions: Si30(γ, 2p)Mg28 and Mg26(α, 2p)Mg28. It is a 21.3±0.2 hour β emitter (Emax=0.418±0.01 Mev, logft=4.30). Mg28 decays to Al28 with which it is in secular equilibrium. Milking experiments indicate that the Al28 daughter has a 2.3-min half-life, and confirm the mass assignment of Mg28. Gamma-ray spectra of the Mg28Al28 secular equilibrium mixture indicate gamma rays of the following energies in Mev (intensities in parentheses): 1.769±0.01 (0.98), 1.346±0.01 (0.70), 0.949±0.01 (0.29), 0.400±0.01 (0.31), 0.0319±0.001 (0.96). The 1.769-Mev gamma results from the decay of Al28. Coincidence measurements show that the 1.346-, the 0.949-, and the 0.400-Mev gammas are each in coincidence with the 0.0319-Mev gamma, and that the 0.949- and 0.400-Mev gammas are in coincidence with each other. Delay coincidence measurements between the 1.346-Mev gamma and the 0.0319-Mev gamma indicate that the half-life of the latter is <2×109 sec. This information together with the αKexp=0.032±0.066 indicates that the 0.0319-Mev gamma is an M1 transition as predicted if the ground-state doublet of Al28 is a jj doublet. A complete decay scheme for the isobaric triplet, Mg28Al28Si28, is proposed. All spins and parities of ground and excited states are assigned. Assuming a mass of 27.985818±0.000043 amu for Si28, the mass of Al28 is 27.990809±0.000045 and the mass of Mg28 is 27.992738±0.000047. On the basis of an empirical scheme of nuclear systematics the energy available for decay and the half-lives of the following nuclei are discussed:

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