title: Alternative interpretation of sharply rising E0 strengths in transitional regions.
abstract: It is shown that strong 0(+)(2)-->0(+)(1) E0 transitions provide a clear signature of phase transitional behavior in finite nuclei. Calculations using the interacting-boson approximation (IBA) show that these transition strengths exhibit a dramatic and robust increase in spherical-deformed shape transition regions, that this rise matches well the existing data, that the predictions of these E0 transitions remain large in deformed nuclei, that they arise from the specific d-boson coherence in the wave functions, and do not necessarily require the explicit mixing of normal and intruder configurations from different IBA spaces.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Kernphysik, Universität zu Köln, Köln, Germany.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: von Brentano
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Werner
authors.forename: R F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Casten
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Scholl
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: McCutchan
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Krücken
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jolie