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

摘要

Three new highly-deformed (HD) bands are identified in Nd-136 and the highly deformed band of Nd-137 is extended at higher spin by four transitions, revealing a band crossing associated with the occupation of the second nu i(13/2 )intruder orbital. Extended cranked Nilsson-Strutinsky calculations are performed for all HD bands observed in Nd-134, Nd-136, and Nd-137, 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 Nd-134 and Nd-136, 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.