Abstract
The energies of the excited states in very neutron-rich Si-42 and P-41,P-43 have been measured using in-beam gamma-ray spectroscopy from the fragmentation of secondary beams of S-42,S-44 at 39A MeV. The low 2(+) energy of Si-42, 770(19) keV, together with the level schemes of P-41,P-43, provides evidence for the disappearance of the Z=14 and N=28 spherical shell closures, which is ascribed mainly to the action of proton-neutron tensor forces. New shell model calculations indicate that Si-42 is best described as a well-deformed oblate rotor.