Multiple chiral bands in Nd-137

Abstract

Two new bands have been identified in Nd-137 from a high-statistics JUROGAM II gamma-ray spectroscopy experiment. Constrained density functional theory and particle rotor model calculations are used to assign configurations and investigate the band properties, which are well described and understood. It is demonstrated that these two new bands can be interpreted as chiral partners of previously known three-quasiparticle positive- and negative-parity bands. The newly observed chiral doublet bands in Nd-137 represent an important support to the existence of multiple chiral bands in nuclei. The present results constitute the missing stone in the series of Nd nuclei showing multiple chiral bands, which becomes the most extended sequence of odd-even and even-even nuclei presenting multiple chiral bands in the Segre chart.