Evidence for pseudospin-chiral quartet bands in the presence of octupole correlations

Three nearly degenerate pairs of doublet bands are identified in 131Ba. Two of them, with positive-parity, are interpreted as pseudospin-chiral quartet bands. This is the first time that a complete set of chiral doublet bands built on the pseudospin partners π(d5/2,g7/2) is observed. The chiral bands with opposite parity built on 3-quasiparticle configurations are directly connected by many E1 transitions, without involving an intermediary non-chiral configuration. The observed band structures in 131Ba have been investigated by using the reflection-asymmetric particle rotor model. The energies and the electromagnetic transition ratios of the three pairs of doublet bands observed in 131Ba are reproduced and they are interpreted as chiral doublet bands with three-quasiparticle configurations. It is the first time that multiple chiral bands are observed in the presence of enhanced octupole correlations and pseudospin symmetry.