Floating Bands in Nuclear Spectroscopy

The methods of heavy ion nuclear reaction spectroscopy are discussed. When combined with large γ ray arrays and charged particle selection methods, vast amounts of nuclear data are collected and complex nuclear level schemes approaching the extremes of angular momentum result. Often, bands of levels associated with particular nuclei cannot be specifically tied down in the nucleus. Examples of these floating bands are given for 135Pm and 152Dy. A correlation of the level schemes of 219Ra, observed in 223Th α decay and the nuclear reaction 208Pb(14C,3n), suggests that the ground state of 219Ra has not been observed in the nuclear reaction study. The resultant levels in 219Ra are then interpreted in terms of a reflection asymmetric nuclear model.