Nucleon numbers for nuclei with shape coexistence

Abstract

We consider two competing sets of nuclear magic numbers, namely the harmonic oscillator (HO) set (2, 8, 20, 40, 70, 112, 168, 240,...) and the set corresponding to the proxy-SU(3) scheme, possessing shells 0-2, 2-4, 6-12, 14-26, 28-48, 50-80, 82-124, 126-182, 184-256... The two sets provide 0+ bands with different deformation and band-head energies. We show that for proton (neutron) numbers starting from the regions where the quadrupole-quadrupole interaction, as derived by the HO, becomes weaker than the one obtained in the proxy-SU(3) scheme, to the regions of HO shell closure, the shape coexistence phenomenon may emerge. Our analysis suggests that the possibility for appearance of shape coexistence has to be investigated in the following regions of proton (neutron) numbers: 8, 18-20, 34-40, 60-70, 96-112, 146-168, 210-240,...