Analysis of staggering patterns in identical superdeformed bands: Constraints on a C4 Hamiltonian

The ΔI=4 bifurcation in three identical superdeformed rotational bands is compared with predictions from the model of Hamamoto and Mottelson. A complete calculation of the tunneling amplitude in a semiclassical treatment of this model constrains the model’s parameters to just three regimes, with very different energy scales.