Eur. Phys. J. A (2015) 51: 50
https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2015-15050-y

Regular Article - Experimental Physics

Shape evolution and magnetic rotation in ¹⁴¹Nd

¹ Centre de Spectrométrie Nucléaire et de Spectrométrie de Masse, Université Paris-Sud and CNRS/IN2P3, Bât. 104-108, F-91405, Orsay, France
² Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, 46556, Notre Dame, IN, USA
³ Division of Mathematical Physics, LTH, Lund University, P.O. Box 118, SE-221 00, Lund, Sweden
⁴ Helmholtz-Institut für Strahlen- und Kernphysik, Universität Bonn, Nußalee 14-16, D-53115, Bonn, Germany
⁵ Departement de Recherches Subatomiques, Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien, DRS-IPHC, 23 rue du Loess, BP 28, F-67037, Strasbourg, France
⁶ Niels Bohr Institute, Blegdamsvej 17, DK-2100, Copenhagen, Denmark
⁷ Nuclear Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 94720, Berkeley, CA, USA
⁸ Departement de Physics, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
⁹ The Niewodniczanski Institute of Nuclear Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Radzikowskiego 152, PL-31342, Krakow, Poland

^* e-mail: petrache@csnsm.in2p3.fr

Received: 24 December 2014
Revised: 9 April 2015
Accepted: 14 April 2015
Published online: 29 April 2015

Abstract

The high-spin states in ¹⁴¹Nd were investigated using the ⁹⁶Zr(⁴⁸Ca, 3n) reaction and the EUROBALL array. The level scheme has been extended up to an excitation energy of around 16MeV and spin 81/2. Two new bands of dipole transitions and three bands presumably of quadrupole transitions were identified and their connections to low-lying states were established. Cranked Nilsson-Strutinsky and tilted axis cranking calculations are combined in the interpretation of the observed dipole bands. The high-spin bands with assigned quadrupole transitions are interpreted as triaxial bands, while the dipole bands appear in the calculations to exhibit a shape evolution from low-deformation triaxial to spherical shape. They can be classified as magnetic rotation, with transition probabilities that show the characteristic decrease with angular momentum caused by the shears mechanism.