Decoupled Yrast States in Odd-Mass Nuclei

We have studied a system consisting of a particle coupled to a rotating core. Although a complete decoupling of particle and core occurs only at very small deformations (coupling strengths), a "favored" high-spin band of levels tends to be decoupled over a much larger region of deformation. This can be understood as a simple Coriolis effect, and seems to be borne out remarkably well in some odd-$A$ La isotopes.