Highly deformed bands in Nd nuclei: New results and consistent interpretation within the cranked Nilsson-Strutinsky formalism

Abstract

Three new highly-deformed (HD) bands are identified in 136 Nd and the highly deformed band of 137 Nd is extended at higher spin by four transitions, revealing a band crossing associated with the occupation of the second νi 13/2 intruder orbital. Extended cranked Nilsson-Strutinsky calculations are performed for all HD bands observed in 134 Nd, 136 Nd, and 137 Nd, achieving for the first time a consistent interpretation of all HD bands in the Nd nuclei. The new interpretation has significant consequences, like the change of parity of the yrast HD bands of 134 Nd and 136 Nd, and the involvement of two negative-parity neutron intruder orbitals in the configurations of most HD bands. The present experimental results and their theoretical interpretation represent an important step forward in the understanding of the second-minimum excitations in the Nd nuclei.

Signatures of enhanced octupole correlations at high spin in Nd136

“…The medium-and high-spin states of the 136 Nd nucleus were the subject of many spectroscopic studies in the past [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11], but also very recently new results were published from a high-statistics experiment performed with the JUROGAM II array at Jyväskylä, Finland [12][13][14] and from a lifetime experiment [15]. Investigations were also performed theoretically using different models, like the interacting boson model [16,17], the general Bohr Hamiltonian model [18], and more recently the triaxial projected shell model [19,20] and particle rotor model [21].…”

Evidence against the wobbling nature of low-spin bands in $^{135}$Pr

“…4. However, the main contribution to the 856-keV peak is from band HD1 band of 136 Nd [12]. Note that there are no 813-keV transitions in 136,137 Nd in coincidence with the 796-or the 794-keV transitions.…”