electric quadrupole moment

…reveals the existence of nuclear electric quadrupole moments (an electric quadrupole consists of a charge distribution equivalent to a special arrangement of two electric dipoles) that interact with the electric fields that exist at the nuclear sites. These interactions provide information on the microscopic distribution of electric charge around the…

…possible the measurement of nuclear electric quadrupole and magnetic dipole moments. Both isomer shifts and hyperfine structure splittings are readily resolved in Mössbauer spectra. The energy width of a Mössbauer resonance provides a direct measurement of the width of the excited state involved in the gamma-ray emission and absorption process.…

…nucleons accounts for the measured electric quadrupole moment, which may be considered a measure of how much the distribution of electric charge in the nucleus departs from spherical symmetry.