Systematic exploration of 0+ states in structurally diverse nuclei

The puzzling nature of 0+ excitations, especially in transitional and deformed nuclei, has attracted new attention. Following a recent experiment studying 158Gd, we investigated 15 additional nuclei in and near the rare earth region. Our aim was to map out the energies of as many 0+ states as possible. A series of (p, t) experiments was performed at the Q3D magnetic spectrograph at the University of Munich MP tandem accelerator laboratory. These reactions are particularly sensitive to 0+ states. Outgoing tritons were recorded at various lab angles, and their relative cross sections are compared to those calculated using the distorted wave Born approximation (DWBA). The L = 0 angular distribution is easily discerned. New 0+ states are found in each of these nuclei, and their systematics are discussed