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Thermal shape fluctuation model study of the giant dipole resonance in $^{152}$Gd

We have studied the giant dipole resonance (GDR) in the hot and rotating nucleus $^{152}$Gd within the framework of thermal shape fluctuation model (TSFM) built on the microscopic-macroscopic calculations of the free energies with a macroscopic approach for the GDR. Our results for GDR cross sections are in good agreement with the experimental values except for a component peaking around 17 MeV where the data has large uncertainties. Such a component is beyond our description which properly takes care of the splitting of GDR components due to the deformation and Coriolis effects. Around this 17 MeV lies the half maximum in experimental cross sections, and hence the extracted GDR widths and deformations (estimated from these widths) turn out to be overestimated and less reliable. Reproducing these widths with empirical formulae could conceal the information contained in the cross sections. Fully microscopic GDR calculations and a more careful look at the data could be useful to understand the GDR component around 17 MeV. We also discuss the occurrence of $γ$-softness in the free energy surfaces of $^{152}$Gd and its role on GDR.