SYSTEMATICS OF GAMOW-TELLER STRENGTHS IN MID-FP-SHELL NUCLEI

We show that the presently available data on the Gamow-Teller (GT) str ength in mid-fp-shell nuclei are proportional to the product of the nu mbers of valence protons and neutron holes in the full fp-shell. This observation leads to important insights into the mechanism for GT quen ching and to a simple parametrization of the Gamow-Teller strengths im portant for electron capture by fp-shell nuclei in the early stage of supernovae.