Microscopic Restoration of Proton-Neutron Mixed Symmetry in Weakly Collective Nuclei

Starting from the microscopic low-momentum nucleon-nucleon interaction V{low k}, we present the first systematic shell model study of magnetic moments and magnetic dipole transition strengths of the basic low-energy one-quadrupole phonon excitations in nearly-spherical nuclei. Studying in particular the even-even N=52 isotones from 92Zr to 100Cd, we find the predicted evolution of the predominantly proton-neutron non-symmetric state reveals a restoration of collective proton-neutron mixed-symmetry structure near mid-shell. This provides the first explanation for the existence of pronounced collective mixed-symmetry structures in weakly-collective nuclei.