High spin states in 58Ni

The yrast states of the beta-stable nucleus 2858Ni30 have been studied using the reaction 40Ca(24Mg,α2p)58Ni at a beam energy of 65 MeV. Transitions in this nucleus were identified unambiguously using high-efficiency recoil-gated gamma-ray spectra obtained from the AYEBALL gamma-ray array in conjunction with the Argonne fragment mass analyser coupled to a split anode ionization chamber. The decay scheme is presented and it is hoped that such a study will shed light on the competition between core breaking and population of the 92g neutron intruder orbitals in the generation of high angular momentum states in this region. (author)