Nuclear energy surfaces at high-spin in the A∼180 mass region

We are studying nuclear energy surfaces at high spin, with an emphasis on very deformed shapes using two complementary methods: (1) the Strutinsky method for making surveys of mass regions and (2) Hartree-Fock calculations using a Gogny interaction to study specific nuclei that appear to be particularly interesting from the Strutinsky method calculations. The great advantage of the Strutinsky method is that one can study the energy surfaces of many nuclides (∼300) with a single set of calculations. Although the Hartree-Fock calculations are quite time-consuming relative to the Strutinsky calculations, they determine the shape at a minimum without being limited to a few deformation modes. We completed a study of 182Os using both approaches. In our cranked Strutinsky calculations, which incorporate a necking mode deformation in addition to quadrupole and hexadecapole deformations, we found three well-separated, deep, strongly deformed minima. The first is characterized by nuclear shapes with axis ratios of 1.5:1; the second by axis ratios of 2.2:1 and the third by axis ratios of 2.9:1. We also studied this nuclide with the density-dependent Gogny interaction at I = 60 using the Hartree-Fock method and found minima characterized by shapes with axis ratios of 1.5:1 and 2.2:1. A comparison of the shapes at these minima, generated in the two calculations, shows that the necking mode of deformation is extremely useful for generating nuclear shapes at large deformation that minimize the energy. The Hartree-Fock calculations are being extended to larger deformations in order to further explore the energy surface in the region of the 2.9:1 minimum