α decay of Au176
Abstract
The isotope Au176 has been studied in the complete fusion reaction Ca40+Pr141 → 176Au+5n at the velocity filter SHIP (GSI, Darmstadt). The complex fine-structure α decay of two isomeric states in Au176 feeding several previously unknown excited states in the daughter nucleus Ir172 is presented. An α-decay branching ratio of bα=9.5(11)% was deduced for the high-spin isomer in Ir172.