New Information on the Occurrence of the O(6) Symmetry in Nuclei

Abstract

New γγ-coincidence relations and E2 decay transition rates in the isotopes ^194,196Pt have been deduced from γ-ray spectroscopy experiments using the Gammasphere spectrometer in projectile-Coulomb excitation reactions of beams of ^194,196Pt ions provided by the ATLAS accelerator facility. The results give access to observables that are crucial for a classification of excited quadrupole-collective states in terms of quantum numbers associated with the analytically solvable O(6) dynamical symmetry of the interacting boson model. The data on ¹⁹⁶Pt corroborate the qualitative pattern of excitation energies and E2 transition rates expected from the O(6) solution but the excitation energies significantly deviate from it on a quantitative level.