Microscopic description of quadrupole-octupole coupling in Sm and Gd isotopes with the Gogny energy density functional

The interplay between the collective dynamics of the quadrupole and octupole deformation degree of freedom is discussed in a series of Sm and Gd isotopes both at the mean-field level and beyond, including parity symmetry restoration and configuration mixing. Physical properties such as negative-parity excitation energies and E1 and E3 transition probabilities are discussed and compared to experimental data. Other relevant intrinsic quantities such as dipole moments, ground-state quadrupole moments or correlation energies associated with symmetry restoration and configuration mixing are discussed. For the considered isotopes, the quadrupole-octupole coupling is found to be weak and most of the properties of negative-parity states can be described in terms of the octupole degree of freedom alone.