Direct mapping of nuclear shell effects in the heaviest elements.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 22878498.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/science.1225636.
- No licence information is recorded for this record.
- Because redistribution is not established, this page shows the abstract only. Follow the links below for the full text.
Abstract
Quantum-mechanical shell effects are expected to strongly enhance nuclear binding on an "island of stability" of superheavy elements. The predicted center at proton number Z = 114, 120, or 126 and neutron number N = 184 has been substantiated by the recent synthesis of new elements up to Z = 118. However, the location of the center and the extension of the island of stability remain vague. High-precision mass spectrometry allows the direct measurement of nuclear binding energies and thus the determination of the strength of shell effects. Here, we present such measurements for nobelium and lawrencium isotopes, which also pin down the deformed shell gap at N = 152.