Observation and Spectroscopy of New Proton-Unbound Isotopes Ar-30 and Cl-29: An Interplay of Prompt Two-Proton and Sequential Decay

Previously unknown isotopes Ar-30 and Cl-29 have been identified by measurement of the trajectories of their in-flight decay products S-28 + p + p and S-28 + p, respectively. The analysis of angular correlations of the fragments provided information on decay energies and the structure of the parent states. The ground states of Ar-30 and Cl-29 were found at 2.25(-0.10)(+0.15) and 1.8 +/- 0.1 MeV above the two-and one-proton thresholds, respectively. The lowest states in Ar-30 and Cl-29 point to a violation of isobaric symmetry in the structure of these unbound nuclei. The two-proton decay has been identified in a transition region between simultaneous two-proton and sequential proton emissions from the Ar-30 ground state, which is characterized by an interplay of three-body and two-body decay mechanisms. The first hint of a fine structure of the two-proton decay of Ar-30*(2(+)) has been obtained by detecting two decay branches into the ground and first-excited states of the S-28 fragment.