EXCITATION AND DECAY OF THE FIRST EXCITED-STATE OF NE-17

The first excited state of Ne-17 has been populated via relativistic C oulomb excitation with a radioactive beam of Ne-17 on a Au-197 target and the subsequent gamma-rag decay has been observed. This 3/2(-) stat e is bound with respect to proton emission but unbound to two-proton d ecay. The measured gamma-ray yield accounts for 43(-14)(+19)% of the p redicted yield from an excitation cross section of 28 mb. It is unlike ly that the missing cross section can be attributed to two-proton emis sion because the Lifetime of this branch would have to be a factor 170 0 smaller than predicted by standard barrier penetration calculations.