Shape transition and isovector giant quadrupole resonance decay in hot rotating nuclei

Abstract

We provide a brief review of our activities involving high energy gamma decay from hot-rotating nuclei. The two primary goals of this ongoing programme is to search for rare shape-phase transitions in heavy (A ̃ 190) nuclei, from the analysis of the giant dipole resonance (GDR) gamma ray spectra and also to search for the Isovector Giant Quadrupole Resonance (IVGQR) based upon excited states. The efforts to carry out the exclusive measurements have resulted in the setting up of a sum-spin spectrometer in complete 4π configuration. The performance of this spin-spectrometer will be presented in brief. In addition, this paper also presents the results of our studies with lanthanum bromide detectors of different sizes and configurations using low energy sources and in-beam measurements. The finite temperature potential energy surface calculations, carried out to guide the measurements, will also be discussed.