Searching For 174Yb and 178Hf 0+ states with two-neutron transfer reactions

0+ states can provide insights into the competing modes of excitation and shapes of nuclei at low excitation energies. The nature of the low-lying 0+ states in nuclei are often unclear with a variety of theoretical treatments leading to different interpretations of the underlying nuclear structures. The (p,t) reaction allows for the relatively easy identification of 0+ states due to the steeply increasing cross section at the most forward angles. In addition, transfer cross sections to the various excited states give insights into the underlying nuclear structures of these states, with pairing correlations expected to drive the majority of the cross section to transfer into the ground state in contrast to significant cross sections into excited states which are often experimentally observed. To study 0+ states in 174Yb and 178Hf, the two-neutron transfer reactions 176Yb(p,t) and 180Hf(p,t) were measured at the Q3D spectrometer at the Maier-Leibnitz Laboratory at the Technical University of Munich. Preliminary results on the resulting spectra will be presented. The purpose of the experiment is to confirm previously observed 0+ states in 174Yb and 178Hf, identify possible new 0+ states, their cross-sections, and aid in the theoretical interpretation of the rich nuclear structure in this region.