Nuclear structure studies and particle-rotor model tests for 151,153Sm using 149,151Sm(t,p) reactions

Angular distributions for the 149,151Sm(t,p) reactions were measured using 15 MeV tritons from the McMaster University tandem Van de Graaff accelerator. Reaction products were analyzed with a magnetic spectrograph. L=0 transitions populated known and some previously unknown Iπ=7/2− levels in 151Sm and 5/2− ones in 153Sm. Distributions of L=0 strengths for 149Sm(t,p)151Sm and earlier 151Sm(p,t)149Sm results provide support for particle-plus-rotor descriptions of low-lying levels in these nuclei near the N=89 shape transition. However, the large L=0 strengths to higher excited states are not reproduced by this model. In 153Sm the 450 keV level has the strongest L=0 transition, indicating its dominant component is the 5/2−[523] bandhead.