Test of the generalized Brink-Axel hypothesis in 64,65Ni

Previously published particle-γ coincidence data on the 64Ni(p, p′ γ ) 64Ni and 64Ni(d,pγ ) 65Ni reactions were further analyzed to study the statistical properties of γ decay in 64,65Ni. To do so, the γ decay to the quasicontinuum region and discrete low-lying states was investigated at γ -ray energies of 2.0–9.6 and 1.6–6.1 MeV in 64Ni and 65Ni, respectively. In particular, the dependence of the γ -strength function with initial and final excitation energy was studied to test the validity of the generalized Brink-Axel hypothesis. Finally, the role of fluctuations in transition strengths was estimated as a function of γ -ray and excitation energy. The γ -strength function is consistent with the hypothesis of the independence of initial excitation energy, in accordance with the generalized Brink-Axel hypothesis. The results show that the γ decay to low-lying levels displays large fluctuations for low initial excitation energies