Isomeric decays in the heavy even–even Cd isotopes populated in the fragmentation of ¹³⁶Xe as well as projectile fission of ²³⁸U have been studied within the RISING project at GSI. The new experimental results suggest an energy of 1325 keV for the first excited 2⁺ state in semi-magic ¹³⁰Cd and confirm the previously established positions of this state in ¹²⁶Cd and ¹²⁸Cd (652 keV resp. 645 keV). The origin of the unexpectedly low 2⁺ excitation energies in the N=78, 80 isotopes has been investigated in detail performing modern beyond mean field calculations employing the Gogny force.

PACS numbers: 21.10.Re, 21.10.Gv, 25.85.Ge, 27.90.+b