Probing the nature of particle-core couplings in 49Ca with gamma spectroscopy and heavy-ion transfer reactions

Neutron rich nuclei around 48Ca have been measured with the CLARA–PRISMA setup, making use of 48Ca on 64Ni binary reactions, at 5.9 MeV/A. Angular distributions of γ rays give evidence, in several transfer channels, for a large spin alignment (≈70%) perpendicular to the reaction plane, making it possible to firmly establish spin and parities of the excited states. In the case of 49Ca, states arising from different types of particle–core couplings are, for the first time, unambiguously identified on basis of angular distribution, polarization and lifetime measurements. Shell model and particle–vibration coupling calculations are used to pin down the nature of the states. Evidence is found for the presence, in the same excitation energy region, of two types of coupled states, i.e. single particle coupled to either 48Ca or 50Ca simple configurations, and particle–vibration coupled states based on the 3− phonon of 48Ca.