Studies of the Stable Xe Isotopes from Inelastic Neutron Scattering and Shell Model Calculations

The nuclear structure of the stable Xe isotopes is of interest for multiple reasons. First, these isotopes span a transitional region and, in general, have been poorly studied. Moreover, these nuclei play prominent roles in the ongoing searches for neutrinoless double-beta decay (0νββ). ¹³⁶Xe is a candidate in the search for 0νββ, ¹³⁴Xe is a contaminant in these experiments, and ¹³⁰Xe is the daughter in the double-β decay of ¹³⁰Te. Comprehensive structural information provides crucial tests for the nuclear structure models used in calculating the nuclear matrix element for 0νββ and the neutrino mass.

We have studied ^{130,132,134,136}Xe at the University of Kentucky Accelerator Laboratory using inelastic neutron scattering (INS) from enriched solid XeF₂ samples. The γ-ray angular spectroscopic measurements yielded new information, which allowed the determination of reduced transition probabilities.

In addition to these measurements, shell model calculations were performed for the positive-parity states in ^132,134,136Xe. The comparison with experimental data is quite good overall.