Origin of the electric hexadecapole isomer in $^{93}$Mo
Abstract
We present a shell-model analysis of Mo to investigate the unusual behavior of its isomer -- a prominent candidate for nuclear excitation by electronic capture. This state is unique as its decay is dominated by a slow electric hexadecapole transition, while the typically much faster electric quadrupole decay path is energetically forbidden. We investigate the microscopic origin of this phenomenon by examining in detail the structure of the wave functions of the initial and final states, and the transition matrix elements. This analysis of Mo is contrasted with that of its particle-hole conjugate, Cd, where such an transition is absent.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2510.22352,
title = {Origin of the electric hexadecapole isomer in $^{93}$Mo},
author = {B. Maheshwari and P. Van Isacker and P. M. Walker},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2510.22352},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
To appear in EPJ Web of Conferences dedicated to 14th International Spring Seminar on Nuclear Physics: "Cutting-edge developments in nuclear structure physics"