Electromagnetic transitions as a probe for Superdeformation in 28Si

There is great interest in superdeformation in light nuclei, A < 40 region, in particular alpha-conjugate nuclei in the sd-shell. Enhanced collectivity for such light systems opens new opportunities to test nuclear-structure theories. Antisymmetrized molecular dynamics, large-scale shell model and beyond mean-field calculations which predict superdeformed structures in these regions can be validated and tuned with the aid of experimental evidence of superdeformed bands in light nuclei. A J(pi) = 6+ state at 12.865 MeV in 28Si with a measured B(E2) value of more than 25 W.u for the transition to the 10.946-MeV J(pi) = 4+ state is indicative of a highly collective transition and has been thought to form part of a candidate SD band. Measurements of in-band electromagnetic transitions are required to fully describe this proposed SD band. The CAGRA campaign is a combination of small-angle inelastic scattering with high resolution gamma-ray spectroscopy. This method preferentially populates low-spin and isoscalar natural parity states. A 12 Clover + 4 LaBr3 array was used in coincidence with the high resolution Grand Raiden spectrometer to momentum analyse inelastically scattered alpha-particles. The experiment was performed at the Research Center for Nuclear Physics (RNCP) of Osaka University, Japan. This thesis will focus on the experimental challenges, analysis and results of the 28Si(alpha,alpha') reaction at 9.1 degrees with E_beam = 130 MeV impinged on a natural Si target. The first upper limits of the in-band gamma-ray transition strength of 6.08 W.u from the J(pi) = 4+ to J(pi) = 2+ of the proposed superdeformed band in 28Si has been measured. This has the potential to constrain future theoretical predictions of superdeformation in 28Si.