Evidence for Rotational to Vibrational Evolution Along the Yrast Line in the Odd-A Rare-earth Nuclei

The phase transition of nuclei with increasing angular momentum (or spin) and excitation energy is one of the most fundamental topics of nuclear structure research. The odd-N nuclei with A ≈160 are widely considered belonging to the well-deformed region, and their excitation spectra are energetically favored to exhibit the rotational characteristics. In this work, however, the evidence suggesting that the nuclei changes from rotation to vibration along the yrast lines as a function of spin was found. The simple method, named as E-Gamma Over Spin (E-GOS) curves, would be used to discern the evolution from rotational to vibrational structure in nuclei for various spin ranges. Meanwhile, in order to understand the band structure properties of nuclei, theoretical calculations have been performed for the yrast bands of the odd-A rare-earth nuclei within the framework of the total routhian surface (TRS) model. The TRS plots predict that the ¹⁶⁵Yb and ¹⁵⁷Dy isotopes have large quadrupole shapes at low spin states. At higher rotational frequency (hω~ >0.50 MeV), a clear reduction of the quadrupole deformation is indicated by the present results, and the isotopes become rigid in the γ deformation.