Decay out of the highly deformed bands in the odd Nd isotopes: The ${}_{}{}^{137}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Nd}$ nucleus

The decay of the highly deformed (HD) band in the nucleus ${}_{}{}^{137}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Nd}$ has been studied with the GASP array using the reactions ${}_{}{}^{110}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Pd}$${+}^{30}$Si and ${}_{}{}^{123}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Sb}$${+}^{19}$F. Four decay paths linking the HD band to the normal-deformed states have been established, which fix ${\mathit{I}}^{\mathrm{\pi }}$=29/$2^{+}$ for the lowest state of the HD band lying at ${\mathit{E}}_{\mathit{x}}$=4885 keV. The sudden disappearance, at the low spin side, of the HD bands in the ${}_{}{}^{133,135,137}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Nd}$ isotopes can be explained by total Routhian surface calculations through a change of the nuclear shape which is microscopically related to the transfer of the valence neutron from a N=6 to a N=4 Nilsson orbital.