New high-spin isomer and quasiparticle-vibration coupling in ¹⁸⁷Ir

The nucleus ¹⁸⁷ Ir has been populated up to high spin using the reaction ¹⁸⁶ W(7 Li, 6n) at a beam energy of 59 MeV. A comprehensive extension of its level scheme has been proposed comprising 116 newly established excited states connected by 194 transitions which have been observed for the first time. All known rotational bands have been extended up to higher spin and in particular the band crossing region of the h9/2 band has been revised. A number of new intrinsic high-K states has been identified and for some of them multi-quasiparticle configurations have been tentatively assigned. The three-quasiparticle state with spin 29/2- and an excitation energy of 2487 keV is isomeric with a half-live of T_1/2 = 1.8(5) µs. On top of this state a rich level scheme reaching up to spin (59/2-) and excitation energies around 7 MeV has been established. Of particular interest is a new structure built on the 31/2-, maximum spin three-quasiparticle state with {11/2-[505]} {11/2+[615],9/2+[624]} configuration at 2755 keV. Arguments have been presented which indicate a vibrational character of these states similar to the proposed vibration-plus-quasiparticle coupling suggested for the structure built on the 11/2- h11/2 proton 1qp state.