Order-to-chaos transition in rotational nuclei

Phys Rev Lett. 2005 Feb 4;94(4):042501. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.042501. Epub 2005 Jan 31.

Abstract

We have developed a new method to study the order-to-chaos transition in rotational nuclei. Correlations between successive gamma rays are used to determine the average complexity of the intermediate levels and thereby the ratio of the interaction potential between levels to the level spacing. The measured ratios, 0.15 to 1.5, span the range from nearly fully ordered to nearly fully chaotic.