Nucleon pairing in atomic nuclei

The nucleon pairing effect that is analyzed in the present paper is one of the striking manifestations of nuclear dynamics. Nucleon pairing for different chains of nuclei dependent upon the number of protons or neutrons in the nucleus allows one to explain the emergence of a great number of positive-parity states, which form a ground state multiplet, in even-even nuclei in the excitation energy range E* < 4 MeV. The interaction of paired nucleons with vibrational and rotational degrees of freedom of a nucleus produces a wide variety of excitation spectra of positive-parity states in even-even nuclei.