Abstract
The superheavy element with atomic number was produced as an evaporation residue in the fusion reaction at the gas-filled recoil separator TASCA at GSI Darmstadt, Germany. The radioactive decay of evaporation residues and their -decay products was studied using a detection setup that allowed measuring decays of single atomic nuclei with half-lives between sub- and a few days. Two decay chains comprising seven decays and a spontaneous fission each were identified and are assigned to the isotope and its decay products. A hitherto unknown -decay branch in () was observed, which populated the new isotope (). The identification of the long-lived () -emitter marks an important step towards the observation of even more long-lived nuclei of superheavy elements located on an “island of stability.”
- Received 22 February 2014
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.172501
© 2014 American Physical Society
Synopsis
Element Confirmed
Published 1 May 2014
Researchers have independently confirmed the existence of element and have discovered a new isotope along the way.
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