The triaxial-octupole Y$_{32}$ correlation in atomic nuclei has long been
expected to exist but experimental evidence has not been clear. We find, in
order to explain the very low-lying 2$^-$ bands in the transfermium mass
region, that this exotic effect may manifest itself in superheavy elements.
Favorable conditions for producing triaxial-octupole correlations are shown to
be present in the deformed single-particle spectrum, which is further supported
by quantitative Reflection Asymmetric Shell Model calculations. It is predicted
that the strong nonaxial-octupole effect may persist up to the element 108. Our
result thus represents the first concrete example of spontaneous breaking of
both axial and reflection symmetries in the heaviest nuclear systems.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
The Projected Configuration Interaction (PCI) method starts from a collection of mean-field wave functions, and builds up correlated wave functions of good symmetry. It relies on the Generator Coordinator Method (GCM) techniques, but it improves the past approaches by a very efficient method of selecting the basis states. We use the same realistic Hamiltonians and model spaces as the Configuration Interaction (CI) method, and compare the results with the full CI calculations in the sd and pf shell. Examples of 24 Mg, 28 Si, 48 Cr, 52 Fe and 56 Ni are discussed.
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