Rare‐Earth Nuclei Are Not Smooth; Have Bumps, Hollows Available to Purchase

The usual picture of a deformed nucleus is that it has a shape like a quadrupole, resembling either a doorknob or a cigar. Recently a Berkeley group (David Hendrie, Norman Glendenning, Bernard G. Harvey, O. N. Jarvis, H. H. Duhm, J. Saudinos and Jeannette Mahoney) found that the rare earths from samarium to hafnium, which were thought to be the best examples of simple deformed nuclei, actually have all sorts of hollows and bumps.