Abstract
The collective bands of 44Ti are investigated within the dinuclear-system model by treating the nucleus as an α + 40Ca∗ molecular configuration. We examine whether the observed positive- and negativeparity sequences can be described as collective angular excitations of an α particle coupled to a superdeformed 40Ca core. The radial and angular degrees of freedom are treated within an approximate adiabatic separation, and the fragment interaction is obtained from Coulomb and nuclear double-folding potentials. The orientation-dependent potential favors an equatorial arrangement of the fragments. The calculated spectrum reproduces the main ordering of the experimentally identified low-spin states and predicts higher-spin continuations of the proposed sequences. The calculated B(E2) values agree with the available experimental data within their uncertainties and support the collective nature of thesestates. The results are consistent with a molecular interpretation of the observed bands and identify the relative fragment orientation as an important collective degree of freedom in 44Ti .