High-K isomers in transactinide nuclei close to N=162

We extend our recent study of shape evolution, collective excitation spectra, and decay properties of transactinide nuclei [V. Prassa, T. Nikšić, and D. Vretenar, Phys. Rev. C 88, 044324 (2013)], based on the microscopic framework of relativistic energy density functionals, to two-quasiparticle (2qp) excitations in the axially deformed Rf, Sg, Hs, and Ds isotopes, with neutron number N=160–166. The evolution of high-K isomers is analyzed in a self-consistent axially symmetric relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov calculation using the blocking approximation with time-reversal symmetry breaking. The occurrence of a series of low-energy high-K isomers is predicted, in particular the 9−ν in the N=160 and N=166 isotopes, and the 12−ν in the N=164 nuclei. The effect of the N=162 deformed-shell closure on the excitation of 2qp states is discussed. In the N=162 isotones we find a relatively low density of 2qp states, with no two-neutron states below 1.6 MeV excitation energy and two-proton states at ≈0.5 MeV higher energy than the lowest 2qp states in neighboring isotopes. This is an interesting result that can be used to characterise the occurrence of deformed shell gaps in very heavy nuclei