On quadrupole vibrations in nearly spherical nuclei

A new understanding of low-lying quadrupole vibrations in nuclei is emerging through lifetime measurements performed with fast neutrons at the accelerator laboratory of the University of Kentucky in combination with high-sensitivity measurements with other probes. In the stable cadmium nuclei, which have long been considered to be the best examples of vibrational behavior, we find that many E2 transition probabilities are well below harmonic vibrator expectations, and the B(E2)s cannot be explained with calculations incorporating configuration mixing between vibrational phonon states and intruder excitations. These data place severe limits on the collective models, and it is suggested that the low-lying levels of the Cd isotopes may not be of vibrational origin. An additional example of an apparent quadrupole vibrational nucleus, ⁶²Ni, is considered.