Nowadays, the Gogny force is a referent in the theoretical description of nuclear structure phenomena. Its phenomenological character manifests in a simple analytical form that allows for implementations of techniques both at the mean field and beyond all over the nuclide chart. Over the years, multiple applications of the standard many-body techniques in an assorted set of nuclear structure applications have produced results which are in a rather good agreement with experimental data. The agreement allows for a simple interpretation of those intriguing phenomena in simple terms and gives confidence on the predictability of the interaction. The present status on the implementation of different many-body techniques with the Gogny force is reviewed with a special emphasis on symmetry restoration and large amplitude collective motion.

Despite the more than one order of magnitude difference between the measured dipole moments in 144 Ba and 146 Ba, the strength of the octupole correlations in 146 Ba are found to be as strong as those in 144 Ba with a similarly large value of B(E3; 3 − → 0 + ) determined as 48( +21 −29 ) W.u. The new results not only establish unambiguously the presence of a region of octupole deformation centered on these neutron-rich Ba isotopes, but also manifest the dependence of the electric dipole moments on the occupancy of different neutron orbitals in nuclei with enhanced octupole strength, as revealed by fully microscopic calculations.

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The nucleus (154)Gd is located in a region of the nuclear chart where rapid changes of nuclear deformation occur as a function of particle number. It was investigated using a combination of γ-ray scattering experiments and a γγ-coincidence study following electron capture decay of (154)Tb(m). A novel decay channel from the scissors mode to the first excited 0(+) state was observed. Its transition strength was determined to B(M1;1(sc)(+)→0(2)(+))=0.031(4)μ(N)(2). The properties of the scissors mode of (154)Gd imply a much larger matrix element than previously thought for the neutrinoless double-β decay to the 0(2)(+) state in such a shape-transitional region. Theory indicates an even larger effect for (150)Nd.