Shell-model description of the low-energy structure of strongly deformed nuclei

An effective fermion interaction of maximum particle rank four, comprised of operators which form the integrity basis of an SU(3)..-->..R(3) algebra, has been found sufficient to reproduce almost exactly, within a single leading irreducible representation of pseudo SU(3), the ground- and gamma-band rotational structure as well as the concomitant interband and intraband B(E2) strengths of states in the strongly deformed nuclei. Results are given for /sup 164/Er.