Hexadecapole interaction and the Δ<i>I</i> = 4 staggering effect in rotational bands

Abstract

A role of the multipole interaction in the description of the \\triangle I=4 staggering phenomenon is investigated in a model consisting of a single-j shell filled by identical nucleons. Exact diagonalization of the quadrupole-plus-hexadecapole Hamiltonian shows that the hexadecapole-hexadecapole interaction can produce a \\triangle I=4 periodicity in the yrast sequence.