RESUMO
Two pairs of positive-and negative-parity doublet bands together with eight strong electric dipole transitions linking their yrast positive- and negative-parity bands have been identified in ^{78}Br. They are interpreted as multiple chiral doublet bands with octupole correlations, which is supported by the microscopic multidimensionally-constrained covariant density functional theory and triaxial particle rotor model calculations. This observation reports the first example of chiral geometry in octupole soft nuclei.
RESUMO
Negative-parity bands in the vicinity of 156Gd and 160Yb have been suggested as candidates for the rotation of tetrahedral nuclei. We report the observation of the odd and even-spin members of the lowest energy negative-parity bands in 160Yb and 154Gd. The properties of these bands are similar to the proposed tetrahedral band of 156Gd and its even-spin partner. Band-mixing calculations are performed and absolute and relative quadrupole moments deduced for 160Yb and 154Gd. The values are inconsistent with zero, as required for tetrahedral shape, and the bands are interpreted as octupole vibrational bands. The failure to observe the in-band E2 transitions of the bands at low spins can be understood using the measured B(E1) and B(E2) values.
RESUMO
Fine structure in the energy region of the isoscalar giant quadrupole resonance in nuclei is observed in high-resolution proton scattering experiments at iThemba LABS over a wide mass range. A novel method based on wavelet transforms is introduced for the extraction of scales characterizing the fine structure. A comparison with microscopic model calculations including two-particle two-hole (2p2h) degrees of freedom identifies the coupling to surface vibrations as the main source of the observed scales. A generic pattern is also found for the stochastic coupling to the background of the more complex states.