“…Previous studies of isotones in this region have revealed that as the occupancy of the πh 11/2 orbital increases with increasing Z, states involving configurations with neutrons in the h 9/2 orbital are lowered in energy relative to those with neutrons in the f 7/2 orbital [1][2][3][4]. This observation has been attributed to an increasing attraction between h 11/2 protons and h 9/2 neutrons as the occu- * Present address: Department of Physics, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, United Kingdom † Present address: Department of Physics, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1 Canada pancy of the h 11/2 proton orbital increases.…”