Particle-hole and particle-particle correlations in neodymium isotopes

Excited states in 140, 142, 144, 146Nd nuclei, up to an excitation energy of about 5 MeV, were investigated by (p,t) experiments performed with a good energy resolution. These data, together with proton and deuteron scattering data from a previous experiment, are compared with Quasi-Particle Phonon Model evaluations, in which the competition between particle-hole and particle-particle residual interactions is considered. The B(Eλ) distributions are satisfactorily reproduced. The 146, 148Nd(p,t) reaction data are well accounted for, while difficulties are found in reproducing those for 142, 144Nd(p,t). Limitations and improvements of the model are discussed.