Eur. Phys. J. A (2017) 53: 123
https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2017-12307-5

Regular Article - Experimental Physics

Some critical remarks on a sequence of events interpreted to possibly originate from a decay chain of an element 120 isotope

¹ GSI - Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH, 64291, Darmstadt, Germany
² Helmholtz-Institut Mainz, 55099, Mainz, Germany
³ GANIL, 14076, Caen Cedex 5, France

^* e-mail: F.P.Hessberger@gsi.de

Received: 15 July 2016
Accepted: 2 May 2017
Published online: 14 June 2017

Abstract

A sequence of three events observed in an irradiation of ²⁴⁸Cm with ⁵⁴Cr at the velocity filter SHIP of the GSI - Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH, 64291 Darmstadt, Germany, had been interpreted as a decay chain consisting of three particles. On the basis of measured energies, a possible assignment to the decay of an isotope of element 120 was discussed, although it was stated that a definite assignment could not be made. A critical analysis of the data, however, shows that the reported events do not have the properties of a decay chain consisting of three particles and (probably being terminated by) a spontaneous fission event, but that this is rather a random sequence of events.