Lifetime of the First Excited State ofP32

The mean life of the first excited state of ${\mathrm{P}}^{32}$(77 keV, $2^{+}$) has been measured to be ($5.2_{+0.9\mathrm{}}^{}{}_{}{}^{-0.5\mathrm{}}$)×${10}^{-10\mathrm{}}$sec. The state was formed by the ${\mathrm{P}}^{31}\mathrm{}(d,p)\mathrm{}{\mathrm{P}}^{32}$ reaction. The time differences between the detection of a proton in a solid-state detector and a 77-keV $\gamma$ ray in a NaI (Tl) crystal were measured. The prompt time distribution was obtained in a similar way using the transition between the second and first excited states of ${\mathrm{Na}}^{24}$ excited by the ${\mathrm{Na}}^{23}\mathrm{}(d,p)\mathrm{}{\mathrm{Na}}^{24}$ reaction. The data were analyzed using the third-moment method. An upper limit of 5×${10}^{-10\mathrm{}}$ sec was obtained for the mean life of the second excited state of ${\mathrm{Na}}^{24}$. The result obtained for ${\mathrm{P}}^{32}$ indicates that pure $j-j$ coupling is not an adequate description for the two lowest states in this nucleus.