The investigation of complex radioactive decay schemes far from beta stability: the structure of 187-Au

Procedures used to perform detailed nuclear spectroscopy following radioactive decay in regions far from beta stability are described. Examples from a search in /sup 189/Tl, /sup 187/Au for bands formed by pi /sub 9/2/ coupling to O/sub 2//sup +/ states in /sup 188/Hg and /sup 186/Pt, respectively, are presented. The head of this band has been located in /sup 187/ Au at 443.5 keV, but this band has not been found in /sup 189/Tl. Its energy of excitation in /sup 187/Au and its non-observation in /sup 189/Tl support a picture of proton pairs occupying the h/sub 9/2/ intruder orbital to give rise to the O/sub 2 //sup +/ isotopes and the ground state in the even neutron-deficient Pt isotopes. (10 refs).