The experimental large fluctuation in odd-even differences in moments of
inertia of deformed actinide nuclei is investigated using the particle-number
conserving (PNC) method for treating the cranked shell model with monopole and
quadrupole pairing interactions. PNC calculations show that the large odd-even
difference in moments of inertia mainly comes from the interference
contributions j(μν) from particles in high j intruder orbitals μ
and ν quite near the Fermi surface, which have no counterpart in the BCS
formalism. The effective monopole and quadrupole pairing interaction strengths
are determined to fit the experimental odd-even differences in binding
energies and bandhead moments of inertia. The experimental results for the
variation of moments of inertia with rotational frequency ω are
reproduced well by the PNC calculation. The nearly identical experimental
moments of inertia between 236U(gsb) and 238U(gsb) at low
frequencies ℏω⩽0.20 MeV are also reproduced quite well.