States excited inNd146by thermal and average-resonance neutron-capture gamma rays

Thermal neutron capture in enriched and natural neodymium targets and average-resonance neutron capture in natural-neodymium targets yield high- and medium-energy $\gamma$-ray spectra. These spectra are compared with each other to determine the energies and relative intensities of $\gamma$ rays from ${}_{}{}^{146}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Nd}$ which are then used to construct a partial level scheme for ${}_{}{}^{146}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Nd}$. A cooled intrinsic-germanium detector is used in both coincidence and anticoincidence modes of operation to measure the spectra. Of 146 $\gamma$ rays observed in the 400 to 2800 keV range, 56 are located as transitions among 33 states. Thirty-one primary transitions following average neutron capture are used to describe all but one of the excited states. Most of the states are newly reported here with definite parity assignments and restricted spin choices. A search for the $2^{+}$ member of a previously suggested two-phonon triplet indicates that the existence of this member is not likely. The capture state energy is determined to be 7564.7 ± 0.4 keV.