49Cr: Towards full spectroscopy up to 4 MeV

The nucleus 49Cr has been studied by analyzing γ-γ coincidences in the reaction 46Ti(α,n)49Cr at the bombarding energy of 12 MeV. The level scheme has been greatly extended at low excitation energy, and several lifetimes have been determined by means of the Doppler shift attenuation method. Shell model calculations in the full pf configuration space reproduce well the negative parity levels. Satisfactory agreement is obtained for positive parity levels by extending the configuration space to include a nucleon-hole in either the 1d3/2 or 2s1/2 orbitals. A nearly one-to-one correspondence is found between experimental and theoretical levels up to an excitation energy of 4 MeV. Experimental data and shell model calculations are interpreted in terms of the Nilsson diagram and the particle-rotor model, showing the strongly coupled nature of the bands in this prolate nucleus. Nine values of Kπ are proposed for the levels observed in this experiment. As a secondary result, it is shown that the values of the experimental magnetic moments in 1f7/2 nuclei are well reproduced without quenching the nucleon g factors.