This proposal is for the support of travel and living expenses associated with a collaborative research project between the University of Notre Dame (ND) and the Panjab University, Chandigarh, India (PU). The major thrust of the work is to study high-angular momentum phenomena in nuclear physics, in particular studies of exotic shapes and lifetime measurements using the recoil distance technique. Experiments will be carried out at the Nuclear Science Center (NSC), New Delhi, at the University of Notre Dame Nuclear Structure Laboratory, and at the Argonne National laboratory ATLAS facility. For experiments in which the PU group takes the lead, most of the data analysis will be performed there, the measurements will be made there to determine feasibility and optimal conditions. The final experiment would then be performed using the full power of the Argonne-Notre Dame facility if warranted by experimental data from NSC. This investigation offers an excellent opportunity to make optimum use of facilities available both in India and in the U.S. since much of the work could be done at the NSC in India. Scope: The proposed research involving the study of exotic shapes of nuclei represents one of the most active fields in structure physics at the present time. The division of experiments between the two facilities is very useful considering that the Argonne-Notre Dame Facility is in high demand and the accelerator over-subscribed. Postdoctoral fellows and graduate students at both institutions will be included in this research. ***
