Decay-out of the yrast superdeformed band in136Nd: Towards an experimental extraction of the neutron pairing gap at large deformation

A study of the Nd-136 nucleus has been performed with the EUROBALL III multidetector to establish the decay-out of the yrast superdeformed (SD) band. Three discrete linking transitions (754, 1456, and 1493 keV) have been discovered, establishing the position of the SD band at 7.03 MeV excitation energy with proposed spin and parity 17((-)) for the lowest observed SD state. Neutron pairing gap parameters for SD shapes have been extracted in Nd isotopes, using the strong-coupling model and odd-even mass difference formulas. The major conclusion of our phenomenological analysis is that the pairing correlations do subsist in the SD configurations of nuclei in the A = 130 mass region. [S0556-2813(99)01312-6].