Phase transitions in the Interacting Boson Fermion Model: the gamma-unstable case

Abstract

The phase transition around the critical point in the evolution from spherical to deformed gamma-unstable shapes is investigated in odd nuclei within the Interacting Boson Fermion Model. We consider the particular case of an odd j=3/2 particle coupled to an even-even boson core that undergoes a transition from spherical U(5) to gamma-unstable O(6) situation. The particular choice of the j=3/2 orbital preserves in the odd case the condition of gamma-instability of the system. As a consequence, energy spectrum and electromagnetic transitions, in correspondence of the critical point, display behaviours qualitatively similar to those of the even core. The results are also in qualitative agreement with the recently proposed E(5/4) model, although few differences are present, due to the different nature of the two schemes.