Collapse of the N=28 shell closure in (42)Si

Phys Rev Lett. 2007 Jul 13;99(2):022503. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.022503. Epub 2007 Jul 12.

Abstract

The energies of the excited states in very neutron-rich (42)Si and (41,43)P have been measured using in-beam gamma-ray spectroscopy from the fragmentation of secondary beams of (42,44)S at 39A MeV. The low 2(+) energy of (42)Si, 770(19) keV, together with the level schemes of (41,43)P, provides evidence for the disappearance of the Z=14 and N=28 spherical shell closures, which is ascribed mainly to the action of proton-neutron tensor forces. New shell model calculations indicate that (42)Si is best described as a well-deformed oblate rotor.