The spectroscopy and structure of the transitional nucleus219Ra

The interchange of two sets of spins in the level structure of²¹⁹Ra observed following the alpha decay of²²³Th and the suggestion that the ground state of²¹⁹Ra was not observed in the heavy ion reaction spectroscopy²⁰⁸Pb(¹⁴C, 3n), allow the correlation of these levels which were previously unconnected. The resulting level structure is interpreted in terms of and parity doublet bands which evolve from anomalous rotational structures into vibrational-like structures with alternating spins and parities. The level structure of²¹⁹Ra is successfully interpreted both in terms of octupole deformed (ε ₃=0.08) Nilsson levels and in terms of intermediate coupling using normal Nilsson levels with very strong octupole correlations. The levels in²¹⁹Ra are then compared to the corresponding levels in a series of isotopic and isotonic nuclei to trace the collapse of octupole-quadrupole deformed nuclear structure into the more degenerate shell-model spectroscopy.