Magnetic dipole probes of the sd and pf shell crossing in the 36,38Ar isotopes

Abstract We have calculated the M1 strength distributions in the 36,38Ar isotopes within large-scale shell model studies which consider valence nucleons in the sd and pf shells. While the M1 strength in 36Ar is well reproduced within the sd shell, the experimentally observed strong fragmentation of the M1 strength in 38Ar requires configuration mixing between the sd and the pf shells adding to our understanding of correlations across the N = 20 shell gap.