EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF ISOSPIN SYMMETRY IN N=Z NUCLEI

The Isospin symmetry is one of the first dynamical symmetries identified in nuclear physics. It helps us to simplify the description of a system, in this case the atomic nucleus, a quantum many-body system consisting of two types of fermion, the neutron and the proton. The assumptions of the charge symmetry and the charge independence of the nuclear interaction led to consider neutrons and protons as two different states of the same particle, the nucleon. To account for this, in 1932, Heisenberg introduced a new quantum number, the isotopic spin or Isospin. The concept of the Isospin symmetry neglects the presence of Coulomb interaction inside the atomic nucleus. This interaction breaks the Isospin symmetry, inducing impurities in the nuclear wave function. This is the so called Isospin-mixing phenomenon. In this thesis work the experimental study of the Isospin-mixing phenomenon is approached from two different points of view. On one hand, the characterization of two types of detectors ideal for the Isospin mixing investigation is presented. On the other hand, the experimental determination of the Isospin mixing probability in the nucleus 60Zn is discussed.