  In this paper, beta-decay properties of even-even neutron-rich isotopes in
the rare-earth mass region are studied within a microscopic theoretical
approach based on a proton-neutron quasiparticle random-phase approximation.
The underlying mean field is constructed selfconsistently from a deformed
Hartree-Fock calculation with Skyrme interactions and pairing correlations to
which particle-hole and particle-particle residual interactions are added.
Nuclei in this mass region participate in the astrophysical rapid neutron
capture process and are directly involved in the generation of the rare-earth
peak in the isotopic abundance pattern centered at A=160. The energy
distributions of the Gamow-Teller strength as well as the beta-decay half-lives
and the beta-delayed neutron-emission probabilities are discussed and compared
with the available experimental information and with calculations based on
different approaches.
