The 130 Nd↦ 130 Pr↦ 130 Ce decay chain revisited

: An investigation of low-lying energy levels of 130 Pr and 130 Ce has been made via β-decay. The radioactive parent nuclei were produced via 94,96 Mo + 40 Ca reactions at 6.8 MeV/nucleon and transported by a He-jet system. Gamma-γ-t, γ-X-t, γ-e - -t coincidence measurements were performed. Internal conversion coefficients have been measured with a magnetic spectrometer. The new β-decay half-life of 130 Nd has been determined to be 21(3) s. A partial level scheme of 130 Pr at low-spin has been constructed. The β-decay of 130 Pr to 130 Ce suggests the existence of three β-instable isomeric states in 130 Pr, while only one half-life T 1/2 = 40(4) s has been measured. Based on the present work and low-lying excited states in neighbouring odd-mass nuclei, the spins and parities of isomeric states in 130 Pr are proposed to be 2 + , (4,5) + and (7,8 ± ). The ground state in 130 Pr is still undetermined.