Systematics of the shears mechanism in silver isotopes

A systematic investigation of the shears mechanism in silver isotopes has been carried out. Lifetimes have been measured by means of the Doppler-shift attenuation method for states in two magnetic dipole (M1) bands in 105Ag and one each in 103Ag and 106Ag. Experimental total angular momenta and reduced transition strengths for these bands have been compared with the predictions of the tilted axis cranking (TAC) model with configurations involving one g9/2 proton and quasineutrons from the h11/2 and g7/2 or d5/2 orbitals. There is good overall agreement for both the total angular momenta and reduced transition strengths. The deduced B(M1) strengths, which are a sensitive probe of magnetic rotation, show a decrease consistent with TAC predictions for one M1 band in 105Ag and in 106Ag, confirming the shears mechanism as the means of excitation. Furthermore, the staggering in the transition energies in 103Ag and absence of regular sequences of M1 transitions for N≤56 suggest that N=56 is the lower boundary for the appearance of the shears mechanism in this mass region