Search for experimental evidence supporting the multiphonon description of excited states in 152Sm

A study of available (t,p), (d,p), B(E2), and (p→,p′) results for 152Sm reveals the lack of an adequate experimental foundation for the recent interpretation of levels as multiple phonon structures based on the 02+ state at 685 keV. Each type of data agrees better with earlier descriptions, in which the calculated deformations are comparable to that of the ground state. Suggestions are made for experiments and calculations to help distinguish among the interpretations.