Possible manifestations of oblate shapes at high spin in the yrast region of A = 160--180 nuclei

The possible manifestations of an oblate-shape region at high spin in A = 160--180 nuclei are considered. We focus attention on the fact that rotational band phenomena indeed can exist in nuclei with oblate shapes. From estimates of transition energies, the yrast cascade there could consist largely of low-energy, alternating M1 transitions within bands and E2 transitions between bands. If the recently found stretched-dipole transitions are confirmed as M1, these results may be an indication for the existence of oblate shapes at high spin