Published January 1, 2015 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Magnetism of an Excited Self-Conjugate Nucleus: Precise Measurement of the g Factor of the 2(1)(+) State in Mg-24

  • 1. Australian Natl Univ, RSPE, Dept Nucl Phys, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
  • 2. Bulgarian Acad Sci, Inst Nucl Res & Nucl Energy, BG-1784 Sofia, Bulgaria
  • 3. Horia Hulubei Natl Inst Phys & Nucl Engn, ELI NP, Magurele 077125, Romania
  • 4. Istanbul Univ, Fac Sci, Dept Phys, TR-34134 Istanbul, Turkey
  • 5. St Kliment Ohridski Univ Sofia, Fac Phys, Sofia 1164, Bulgaria
  • 6. Univ Paris 11, CNRS, IN2P3, IPN, F-91406 Orsay, France
  • 7. Univ Cologne, Inst Nucl Phys, D-50937 Cologne, Germany

Description

A precise measurement of the g factor of the first-excited state in the self-conjugate (N = Z) nucleus Mg-24 is performed by a new time-differential recoil-in-vacuum method based on the hyperfine field of hydrogenlike ions. Theory predicts that the g factors of such states, in which protons and neutrons occupy the same orbits, should depart from 0.5 by a few percent due to configuration mixing and meson-exchange effects. The experimental result, g = 0.538 +/- 0.013, is in excellent agreement with recent shell-model calculations and shows a departure from 0.5 by almost 3 standard deviations, thus achieving, for the first time, the precision and accuracy needed to test theory. Proof of the new method opens the way for wide applications including measurements of the magnetism of excited states of exotic nuclei produced as radioactive beams.

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