Lifetime measurement of low lying states of ²⁷Si

Properties of the excited states in ²⁷Si above the proton emission threshold (7463.32 keV) are relevant for studies related to the abundance of ²⁶Al in the Milky Way. The sub-threshold states, most of which have been studied long back are also significant while studying branching of the particle channels in the ¹²C + ¹⁶O fusion process and isospin-symmetry in nuclei. In the present work, our primary motivation is to study the low lying isobaric analogue states (IAS) of ²⁷Si(T_z = -1/2) populated through charge - exchange reaction (p, n) from its mirror partner ²⁷Al (T_z = 1/2). There are several advantages of using proton induced reactions for studying low-lying states. Despite having low recoil velocities (here in case of ²⁷Si ion, v/c is ≃ 0.003), excited states of the residual nuclei are populated non-selectively. One can also specifically excite a few levels of interest and minimize the side feeding effects, which is advantageous while determining the level lifetimes