kazimierz2006˙v4 International Journal of Modern Physics E c ○ World Scientific Publishing Company

Quantum fluctuations and stability of tetrahedral deformations in atomic nuclei. The possible existence of stable axial octupole and tetrahedral deformations is investigated in 80 Zr and 98 Zr. HFBCS calculations with parity projection have been performed for various parametrizations of the Skyrme energy functional. The correlation and ex-citation energies of negative parity states associated with shape fluctuations have been obtained using the generator coordinate method (GCM). The results indicate that in these nuclei both the axial octupole and tetrahedral deformations are of dynamic character and possess similar characteristics. Various Skyrme forces give consistent results as a function of these two octupole degrees of freedom both at the mean-field level as well as for configuration mixing calculations.