Decay modes of the 9/2 isomeric state in Tl

Venhart, M.*; Andreyev, A. N.; Cubiss, J. G.*; Wood, J. L.*; Barzakh, A. E.*; Van Beveren, C.*; Cocolios, T. E.*; de Groote, R. P.*; 19 of others*

The neutron-deficient region of isotopes around =82 is the best studied example of low-energy shape coexistence in nuclei. In this work, the internal transition decay and decay of the 53.3-ms isomeric state in Tl were studied at ISOLDE, CERN. The branching for the internal decay was measured to be 98.5(4)%, while the much weaker decay branching is only about 1.4(4)%. The new results include the first identification of an transition feeding the 3/2 excited state in Tl. Three decays from the Tl isomer were also oserved, and revealed the population of a candidate 9/2 state in Au which has been linked to shape coexistence in the Au nuclei. It is expected that similarly weak decays from isomeric states may be found also in neighbouring Tl isotopes.