The authors show how an 'adiabatic' approximation to the usual coupled-channels equations gives a simple way of calculating and understanding the sub-barrier fusion cross sections in rotational nuclei. The effect of coupling of a 0⁺ ground state to a low-lying 2⁺ excited state may be calculated by solving two elastic scattering problems with central potentials differing by an amount related to the coupling strength. The important feature of this method is that the full angular momentum algebra is included rigorously, allowing all S-matrix elements of physical interest to be generated from the two elastic S-matrices obtained from a standard optical-model code. In particular, the inelastic cross section may be obtained in a manner which is numerically simpler than the distorted-wave Born approximation and which is also more accurate for strongly deformed systems. The observed enhancement in sub-barrier fusion cross sections for deformed heavy ions can be understood simply in this approximation and the coupling to excited states leads to a simple phenomenological expression which is an extension of the formula of Wong (1973). For a given deformation the enhancement is shown to be more important for systems with a large Coulomb barrier.

A candidate for chiral bands was found in ${}^{198}\mathrm{Tl}$ for the first time in a mass region of oblate (or nonaxial with $\gamma ⩾{30}^{°}$) deformed nuclei. Two bands show very similar quasiparticle alignments, moments of inertia, and $B(M1)/B(E2)$ ratios. They have a relative excitation energy of about 500 keV and different patterns of energy staggering. Calculations using the two-quasiparticle-plus-triaxial-rotor model with residual proton-neutron interaction included show that a triaxial deformation with $\gamma ~{44}^{°}$ agrees very well with all the experimental observations. Furthermore, considerable energy staggering for both partner bands was calculated for this $\pi h_{9/2}\otimes \nu i_{13/2}^{-1}$ configuration at $\gamma ~{30}^{°}$, suggesting that chiral bands may have substantial energy staggering.

Continuum spectra for the inclusive reaction ${}_{}{}^{90}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Zr}$(p,p’) have been measured for scattering angles between 24° and 145° at incident energies of 80 and 120 MeV. The spectra and angular distributions at various ejectile energies above 20 MeV are compared with published experimental data for ${}_{}{}^{90}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Zr}$(p,n) at the same incident energies. Results of statistical multistep direct emission calculations are in excellent agreement with the experimental angular distributions. The extracted strength of the effective nucleon-nucleon interaction is shown to be reasonable with respect to absolute magnitude and energy dependence. A phenomenological parametrization of the angular distributions also describes the experimental quantities well.