Toward the limit of nuclear binding on the N = Z line: Spectroscopy of Cd 96
A γ-decaying isomeric state (τ 1/2 = $197$ $^{+19}_{–17}$ ns) has been identified in 96 Cd, which is one α particle away from the last known bound N = Z nucleus, 100 Sn. Comparison of the results with shell-model calculations has allowed a tentative experimental level scheme to be deduced and the isomer to be interpreted as a medium-spin negative-parity spin trap based on the coupling of isoscalar (T = 0) and isovector (T = 1) neutron-proton pairs. The data also suggest evidence for the population of a 9 + T = 1 state, which is predicted by shell-model calculations to be yrast. Here, such a low-lying T = 1 state, which is unknown in lighter mass even-even self-conjugate nuclei, can also be interpreted in terms of the coupling of T = 0 and T = 1 neutron-proton pairs.