Lifetime measurements probing triple shape coexistence in Au-175

Abstract

Lifetimes of the low-lying excited states in the proton-unbound nucleus 175Au have been measured by the recoil distance Doppler-shift method using -ray spectra obtained with the recoil-decay tagging technique. Transition quadrupole moments and reduced transition probabilities extracted for this odd-Z nucleus provide evidence for the existence of three different shapes and indicate competition between collective and non-collective structures. These measurements constitute the first lifetime measurements in a heavy odd-Z nucleus that exhibits triple shape coexistence.