Coulomb excitation of the 2(ms)(+) state of Ru-96 in inverse kinematics - art. no. 031301

We identify the J(pi) = 2(3)(+) state of Ru-96 as the proton-neutron mixed- symmetry 2(ms)(+), state of this nucleus. This identification is based on t he measurement of the transition strengths B(M1,2(3)(+)-2(1)(+))=0.78(23) m u (2)(N) and B(E2;2(3)(+)-0(1)(+))= 1.6(3) W.u. These transition strengths were obtained from the Coulomb excitation yield for the population of the 2 (3)(+) state relative to the yield of the 2(1)(+) state with known E2 excit ation strength. The Coulomb excitation was done in inverse kinematics using the reaction C-nat(Ru-96,Ru-96*) at 280 MeV. This work demonstrates the ac cessibility of the isovector quadrupole excitation in the valence shell usi ng experiments with an accelerated beam of the nuclei of interest.