Behavior of shell effects with the excitation energy in atomic nuclei

We study the behavior of shell effects, like pairing correlations and shape deformations, with the excitation energy in atomic nuclei. The analysis is carried out with the finite temperature Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov method and a finite range density dependent force. For the first time, properties ass ociated with the octupole and hexadecupole deformation and with the superde formation as a function of the excitation energy are studied. Calculations for the well quadrupole deformed Er-164 and Dy-162, superdeformed Dy-152, o ctupole deformed Ra-224, and spherical Sn-118 nuclei are shown. We find in particular, the level density of superdeformed states to be 4 orders of mag nitude smaller than for normal deformed ones.