Proton hole states of 959799Nb

The (d, ³He) reactions on ⁹⁶Mo, ⁹⁸Mo, ¹⁰⁰Mo have been used at 40.7 MeV bombarding energy to populate proton hole states in the Nb isotopes. Ten groups of levels were observed in each nucleus and most of the expected strength in the 1g_9/2, 2p_1/2, 2p_3/2, and 1f_5/2 orbits was observed. Excitation energies and l values were obtained for nine new excited levels in ⁹⁹Nb. The Q value for the ¹⁰⁰Mo(d,³He)⁹⁹Nb reaction was measured to be -5.639 ± 0.015 MeV, giving a ⁹⁹Nb mass excess of -82 342 ± 15 keV. A hole-core coupling model is used to predict the levels of the Nb isotopes, and fair agreement with experiment is obtained.NUCLEAR REACTIONS, NUCLEAR STRUCTURE ${}^{96,98,100}Mo\left(d{,}^{3}He\right)$, E=40.7 MeV; measured σ(θ), ¹⁰⁰Mo(d,³He) Q value; ⁹⁵Nb, ⁹⁷Nb, ⁹⁹Nb levels deduced l, S, π, ⁹⁹Nb mass excess; calculated J, π, S, particle-core-coupling model, predicted $Q_{2^{+}}$ for ⁹⁶Mo, ⁹⁸Mo, ¹⁰⁰Mo.