Quadrupole deformation of barium isotopes

Abstract The B(E2:01+→21+) values of the Ba isotopes (Z=56) exhibit a sharp increase in deformation as the neutron numbers approach the mid-shell value of N=66. This behavior is anomalous because the 2+1 level energies are very similar to those of the neighboring isotopes. By means of the axially-symmetric deformed Woods-Saxon (WS) hamiltonian plus the BCS method, we investigated the systematics of B(E2) of the Ba isotopes. We showed that 15% of the B(E2) values at N=66 was due to the level crossing, occurring at the deformation βWS∼0.3, between the proton orbits originating from the orbits Ω π =1/2 − (h11/2) and 9/2+(g9/2) at zero deformation. The latter of these two was an intruder orbit originating from below the energy gap at Z=50, rising higher in energy with the deformation and intruding the Z=50–82 shell. These two orbits have the largest magnitude of the quadrupole moment with a different sign among the orbits near and below the Fermi surface. Occupancy and non-occupancy of these orbits by protons thus affect B(E2:01+→21+) significantly.