Particle-hole and particle-particle correlations in neodymium isotopes

Excited states in Nd-140,Nd-142,Nd-144,Nd-146 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(E lambda) distributions are satisfactorily reproduced. The Nd-146,Nd-148(p,t) reaction data are well accounted for, while difficulties are found in reproducing those for Nd-142,Nd-144(p,t). Limitations and improvements of the model are discussed.