The equal filling approximation, a procedure widely used in mean-field calculations to treat the dynamics of odd nuclei in a time-reversal invariant way, is justified as the consequence of a variational principle over an average energy functional. The ideas of statistical quantum mechanics are employed in the justification. As an illustration of the method, the ground and lowest-lying states of some octupole deformed radium isotopes are computed.

The evolution of the ground-state nuclear shapes in neutron-rich Sr, Zr, and Mo isotopes, including both even-even and odd-A nuclei, is studied within a self-consistent mean-field approximation based on the D1S Gogny interaction. Neutron separation energies and charge radii are calculated and compared with available data. A correlation between a shape transition and a discontinuity in those observables is found microscopically. While in Sr and Zr isotopes the steep behavior observed in the isotopic dependence of the charge radii is a consequence of a sharp prolate-oblate transition, the smooth behavior found in Mo isotopes has its origin in an emergent region of triaxiality.