Study of mixed-symmetry excitations in ⁹⁶Ru via inelastic proton-scattering

Mixed-symmetry states of octupole (L = 3) and hexadecapole (L = 4) character have been recently proposed in the N = 52 isotones ⁹²Zr and ⁹⁴Mo, based on strong M1 transitions to the lowest-lying 3⁻ and 4⁺ states, respectively. In order to investigate similar excitations in the heaviest stable N = 52 isotone ⁹⁶Ru, two inelastic proton-scattering experiments have been performed at the Wright Nuclear Structure Laboratory (WNSL), Yale University, USA and the Institute for Nuclear Physics, University of Cologne, Germany. From the combined data of both experiments, absolute E1, M1, and E2 transition strengths were extracted, allowing for the identification of candidates for MS octupole and hexadecapole states. The structure of the low-lying 4⁺ states is investigated by means of sdg-IBM-2 calculations.