Proton-decay spectroscopic studies of the exotic nuclides aluminum-23, silicon-23, aluminum-22 and rubidium-77

Aluminum-23 was produced by 40 MeV 3He2+ bombardments of Mg targets in four experiments at the LBNL 88' ' Cyclotron. Reaction products were transported via helium-jet to a detection chamber where they were counted using two low-energy particle-identification (PI) telescopes. New proton groups were observed with laboratory energies (and intensities relative to the known peak at 838 +/- 5 keV) of 246 20 (33 +/- 3%) and 556 +/- 5 keV (68 +/- 5%), respectively. Several possible decay assignments are discussed for the former group. The possibility that it originates from the decay through the isobaric analog state (IAS) and corresponding implications for isospin mixing and the proton-capture resonance strength are discussed. The Gamow-Teller strength function has been deduced from these and several weaker proton transitions; the results are compared with theoretical predictions.; Silicon-23 and 22Al were produced in a 110 MeV 3He2+ bombardment of a 24Mg target; reaction products were transported via helium jet and observed by two PI telescopes with proton sensitivity from 0-35--12.5 MeV. Three weak proton peaks at 7673 +/- 33, 9642 +/- 57 and 10861 +/- 68 keV have been tentatively assigned to the beta-delayed proton decay of 23Si through its IAS. From these results, the estimated 23Si mass excess is 23.25 +/- 0.05 MeV. Beta-delayed two-proton sum peaks were observed at 4478 +/- 15 and 6111 +/- 15 keV (c.m.), in agreement with earlier work an the decay of 22Al at wide relative-emission angles. The energies of several weaker two-proton sum peaks were compared with predicted and experimental values for the beta-2p decay of 23Si.; A search for proton emission from a predicted 19/2- isomer of 77Rb has been performed in three bombardments of Ca targets by 40Ca beams at energies of 145,160 and 132 MeV. Products of the first two bombardments were transported via helium jet and observed by two PI telescopes. In the third bombardment, the mass separator RAMA transported mass-77 products to a PI telescope and two gamma-ray detectors. The direct and mass-separated measurements set limits of ∼5 x 10--6 and 1 x 10-5, respectively, an production of the isomer relative to the ground state, assuming an isomer half-life of 240 ms or longer.