Evidence for K mixing in 178Hf

Systematics for the appearance of K-mixing levels for the pumping or spontaneous decay of multi-quasiparticle isomers in Hf isotopes are detailed in this letter. The possible location of such a level in the nuclide ¹⁷⁸Hf is discussed and an experiment is proposed to investigate its existence. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.