Linear polarization measurement of interband transitions in superdeformed ¹⁹⁰Hg: model-independent evidence for octupole vibrational structures

Abstract

The linear polarization of γ rays between excited and yrast superdeformed (SD) states in 190Hg was measured using the four-element CLOVER detectors of the EUROBALL IV γ-ray spectrometer. This measurement shows in a model-independent way that the interband transitions which compete with the highly collective in-band quadrupole transitions are largely enhanced electric dipoles. Not only do these results represent the first measurement of the multipolarity of transitions between different SD states, but they also provide strong evidence for the interpretation of the structures in the SD minimum of the A∼190 region in terms of octupole excitations.