Spectroscopic study of 228-234Th nuclei using multi-nucleon transfer reactions

Light-actinide nuclei in the octupole deformed region have been populated using multi-nucleon transfer from Th. The energy level schemes of several thorium isotopes with A = 228-234 have been extended up to and negative parity states have been observed for the first time in Th. A systematic study of the difference in alignment between the positive- and negative-parity bands in thorium nuclei in this mass region shows that Th behave like octupole vibrators, in contrast with Th, which are octupole-deformed in character. An intrinsic electric dipole moment has been measured for the first time in Th. The small value obtained is consistent with the vibrational description of this nucleus.