Ultrasensitive search for long-lived superheavy nuclides in the mass range A=288 to A=300 in natural Pt, Pb, and Bi

Journal Article · Wed Jun 15 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Physical Review. C, Nuclear Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVC.83.065806· OSTI ID:21502828

Dellinger, F; Forstner, O; Golser, R; Priller, A; Steier, P; Wallner, A; Winkler, G; Kutschera, W ^[1]

---

1. University of Vienna, Faculty of Physics, Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator (VERA) Laboratory, Waehringer Strasse 17, A-1090 Wien (Austria)

Theoretical models of superheavy elements (SHEs) predict a region of increased stability around the proton and neutron shell closures of Z = 114 and N = 184. Therefore a sensitive search for nuclides in the mass range from A = 288 to A = 300 was performed in natural platinum, lead, and bismuth, covering long-lived isotopes of Eka-Pt (Ds, Z = 110), Eka-Pb (Z = 114), and Eka-Bi (Z = 115). Measurements with accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) at the Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator (VERA) established upper limits for these SHE isotopes in Pt, Pb, and Bi with abundances of <2x10{sup -15}, <5x10{sup -14}, and <5x10{sup -13}, respectively. These results complement earlier searches for SHEs with AMS at VERA in natural thorium and gold, which now amounts to a total number of 37 SHE nuclides having been explored with AMS. In none of our measurements was evidence found for the existence of SHEs in nature at the reported sensitivity level. Even though a few events were observed in the window for {sup 293}Eka-Bi, a particularly strong pileup background did not allow a definite SHE isotope identification. The present result sets limits on nuclides around the center of the island of stability, essentially ruling out the existence of SHE nuclides with half-lives longer than {approx}150 million years.

• OSTI ID: 21502828
• Journal Information: Physical Review. C, Nuclear Physics, Vol. 83, Issue 6; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevC.83.065806; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0556-2813
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
ACCELERATORS
BISMUTH
GOLD
HALF-LIFE
ISOTOPES
LEAD
MASS
MASS SPECTROSCOPY
NEUTRONS
PLATINUM
PROTONS
SENSITIVITY
SIMULATION
STABILITY
THORIUM
TRANSACTINIDE ELEMENTS
ACTINIDES
BARYONS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ELEMENTS
FERMIONS
HADRONS
METALS
NUCLEONS
PLATINUM METALS
SPECTROSCOPY
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
TRANSPLUTONIUM ELEMENTS
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS