Shell model study of the isobaric chains A=50, A=51 and A=52

Shell-model calculations in the full pf-shell are carried out for the A = 50, 51 and 52 isobars. The most frequently used effective interactions for the pf-shell, KB3 and FPD6 are revisited and their behaviour at the N = 28 and Z = 28 closures examined. Cures to their - relatively minor - defaults are proposed, and a new mass-dependent version called KB3G is released. Energy spectra, electromagnetic transitions and moments as well as beta decay properties are computed and compared with the experiment and with the results of the earlier interactions. A high-quality description is achieved. Other miscellaneous topics are addressed: the Coulomb energy differences of the yrast states of the mirror pair Mn-51-Fe-51 and the systematics of the magnetic moments of the N = 28 isotones. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.