Partial conservation of seniority and nuclear isomerism

TL;DR

This paper discusses how partial conservation of seniority quantum numbers in certain nuclear shells leads to the existence of seniority isomers in specific isotopes, revealing nuanced symmetry behaviors in nuclear structure.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of partial seniority conservation in nuclear shells and explains its role in nuclear isomerism, a novel insight into nuclear symmetry.

Findings

Partial conservation of seniority occurs in $g_{9/2}$ and $h_{9/2}$ shells.

This partial conservation explains the existence of seniority isomers in ruthenium and palladium isotopes.

The phenomenon also appears in $f$ bosons.

Abstract

We point out the possibility of the {\em partial} conservation of the seniority quantum number when most eigenstates are mixed in seniority but some remain pure. This situation occurs in nuclei for the $g_{9/2}$ and $h_{9/2}$ shells where it is at the origin of the existence of seniority isomers in the ruthenium and palladium isotopes. It also occurs for $f$ bosons.