Possible chiral doublets in 60Ni

Abstract The open problem on whether or not the chirality exists in doublet bands M1 and M4 in light-mass even-even nucleus 60Ni is studied by adopting the recently developed fully quantal four-j shells triaxial particle rotor model. The corresponding experimental energy spectra, energy differences between doublet bands, and the available B ( M 1 ) / B ( E 2 ) values are successfully reproduced. The analyses on the basis of the angular momentum components, the azimuthal plots, and the K-plots suggest that the chiral modes exist at I ≥ 12 ħ in doublet bands M1 and M4.