Is there evidence for a nuclear Foucault pendulum?

Recent observations of the giant dipole resonance in states at high angular momentum and temperature have shown an effective narrowing of the resonance. It is pointed out that this may be interpreted as a signature of rotation of the nucleus about a symmetry axis. In this limit, the giant dipole orientation freezes in the plane of rotation, the analog of the Foucault pendulum positioned at the North Pole. All effects of rotation, other than those of pure deformation, cease to be present. In this region it is thus possible to probe the nuclear shape directly, uncontaminated by rotational effects.