Hole states in 55Fe

A number of low-lying levels in 55Fe have been described as hole states. The lifetime of the first two hole states has been measured using the direct-timing and Doppler-shift techniques, and the decay scheme of these and neighbouring levels measured. An unsuccessful search was also made for possible decays from a level which has been reported at an excitation of 2818 keV. The experimental information is compared with various calculations.