Lowest Excitations in<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mmultiscripts><mml:mrow><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">T</mml:mi><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">i</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mprescripts/><mml:none/><mml:mn>56</mml:mn></mml:mmultiscripts></mml:math>and the Predicted<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mi>N</mml:mi><mml:mo>=</mml:mo><mml:mn>34</mml:mn></mml:math>Shell Closure
Annotatsiya
Recent experimental characterization of the subshell closure at N=32 in the Ca, Ti, and Cr isotones has stimulated shell-model calculations that indicated the possibility that the N=34 isotones of these same elements could exhibit characteristics of a shell closure, namely, a high energy for the first excited 2(+) level. To that end, we have studied the decay of 56Sc produced in fragmentation reactions and identified new gamma rays in the daughter N=34 isotone 56Ti. The first 2(+) level is found at an energy of 1127 keV, well below the expected position that would indicate the presence of an N=34 shell closure in 56Ti.