Intrinsic states of deformed N=Z nuclei in a quartet formalism

The band structure of N = Z nuclei is constructed from intrinsic states defined in terms of quartets. The simplest of these states is a condensate of collective quartets with isospin T = 0. The other intrinsic states are built by promoting one quartet of the condensate to an excited T = 0 configuration. From these intrinsic states, by angular momentum projection, band structures are generated that approximate well the experimental ones. The projected states also reproduce to a very good extent the spectra resulting from configuration interaction calculations based on the same quartets forming the intrinsic states. These results show that the quartet-based intrinsic states provide the appropriate framework to understand in a simple and intuitive manner the emergence of band-like structures in N = Z nuclei.