Probing the limits of complete spectroscopy in 164Yb

Abstract High spin states of 164 Yb have been populated using the 152 Sm( 16 O,4n) reaction. Analysis has been made using γγ coincidences and, for the first time in a large detector array, angular correlations. The experimental level scheme has been extended to include a total of 15 decay cascades, for some of which the spins have been measured. Extensive cranked shell model calculations have been performed to map the quasiparticle rotational bands in a window, reaching up to 1 MeV above the yrast line, in the spin-energy plane. The experimental data are compared with the calculated bands, and most of the experimental bands are interpreted in terms of quasiparticle excitations. It is also found that the number of experimentally detected bands is in good agreement with the calculated number of bands in the observed spin-energy region.