Quartets of Superdeformed Bands and Supersymmetry Breaking

Abstract

We examine the prediction of supersymmetric quantum mechanics that bands with identical gamma-ray energies occur in quartets. The experimental data suggest that this scenario is actually realized in nature. In the A = 150 mass region, four known pairs of isospectral bands can be grouped in two quartets, while there are indications of such patterns around A = 190. We introduce a small supersymmetry breaking, necessary to describe the details of the data. We derive relations among the transition rates that can be used to test our predictions.