Nuclear structure study of Mg26 following heavy-ion-induced fusion-evaporation reaction

Nuclear structure of the Mg26 nucleus has been probed, for the first time, using heavy-ion-induced fusion-evaporation reaction and a large array of high-resolution γ-ray detectors (Clovers). The level structure of the nucleus reported in the earlier studies, using light-ion reactions, has been re-examined and new transitions have been identified. Existing spin-parity assignments have been confirmed and new assignments have been made from anisotropy and polarization measurements. Large basis shell-model calculations, involving cross-shell excitation- have been carried out, for the first time, in Mg26 as well as in the neighboring isotopes and the agreement with the experimental level energies is rather remarkable.