Identical bands at normal deformation: Criteria and challenges

Identical rotational bands (i.e., those with surprisingly similar moments of inertia) have been proposed through several analyses of known bands in normally deformed nuclei. In this paper, we analyze bands in odd-proton nuclei (A=150--190) with criteria more stringent than those of previous approaches. The identical bands are found to be associated with up-sloping particle states, suggesting that the cause may be a cancellation between pairing and deformation decreases