DOI: 10.1140/epja/i2001-10253-5
Status and prospects of synthesizing superheavy elements
S. HofmannGesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung mbH, D-64220 Darmstadt, Germany S.Hofmann@gsi.de
(Received 21 March 2002 / Published online: 31 October 2002)
Abstract
The nuclear shell model predicts that the next doubly
magic shell-closure beyond
is at a proton number
between
Z = 114 and 126 and at a neutron number
N = 184. The
outstanding aim of experimental investigations is the exploration
of this region of spherical "Superheavy Elements". This article
describes the experiments that were performed at the GSI SHIP.
They resulted in an unambiguous identification of elements 107 to
112. They were negative so far in searching for elements 113, 116
and 118 at SHIP; however, positive results were reported from
experiments in Dubna on elements 114 and 116 and from experiments
in Berkeley on element 118. The measured decay data are compared
with theoretical predictions. Some aspects concerning the
reaction mechanism and the use of radioactive beams are also
presented.
21.10.Dr - Binding energies and masses.
23.60.+e - Alpha decay.
25.70.-z - Low and intermediate energy heavy-ion reactions.
25.85.Ca - Spontaneous fission.
© Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag 2002
