Evidence of nuclear clustering throughout a major shell

Abstract

We apply a cluster model to an extensive set of heavy even-even nuclei in the rare-earth region and determine the optimal core-cluster decomposition of each nucleus from a least-squares fit to the energy spectrum of its ground-state band. Good fits are obtained using a mass-symmetric form of the core-cluster interaction. We find that the core-cluster charge products deduced from the fits and the corresponding B(E2) values are strongly correlated, in support of an underlying cluster picture of these nuclei.