Negative-parity states near the yrast line in Nd144

The near-yrast spectrum of the N=84 isotope Nd144 has been studied using the Te130(18O,4n) reaction at a lab energy of 85 MeV and the techniques of -ray spectroscopy. Sixteen new states and 23 new rays were placed in the level scheme. Most of the yrast and near-yrast negative-parity states have been interpreted in terms of empirical shell-model configurations. However, the interpretation of a sequence of states from J=1724 in terms of the h11/23g7/2-1d5/2-6 proton configuration is problematic because the observed energies cannot be satisfactorily reproduced with empirical shell-model calculations.