Shell Effects in Superdeformed Minima

Recent experimental observation of the direct links between superdeformed and normal-deformed structures in the A~190 mass region offers a unique information on the absolute nuclear binding energy in the 2:1 minima, and hence on the magnitude of shell effects in the superdeformed well. In the present paper, the self-consistent mean-field theory with density-dependent pairing interaction is used to explain at the same time the two-particle separation energies in the first and second wells, and the excitation energies of superdeformed states in the A~190 and A~240 mass regions.