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Title: The quest for superheavy elements and the limit of the periodic table

Journal Article · · Nature Reviews Physics
 [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [4];  [5]
  1. Massey University Auckland (New Zealand); Michigan State University
  2. Johannes Gutenberg Univ., Mainz (Germany); GSI-Helmholtzzentrum fur Schwerionenforschung (Germany); Helmholtz Institute, Mainz (Germany)
  3. Sorbonne Univ., Paris (France); Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) (France); College de France, Paris (France)
  4. Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States)
  5. Massey University Auckland (New Zealand)

The borders of the periodic table of the elements and of the chart of nuclides are not set in stone. The desire to explore the properties of atoms and their nuclei in a regime of very large numbers of electrons, protons and neutrons has motivated new experimental facilities to create new elements and nuclides at the limits of atomic number and mass. But the small production rates and short lifetimes of superheavy nuclei and their atoms mean that ‘atom-at-a-time’ studies are the only experimental way to probe them. The physical and chemical data obtained so far, augmented by theoretical calculations, indicate significant deviations from extrapolations from lighter elements and isotopes. This situation raises the following question: how much further can one push the limits of the periodic table? Here, in this Review, we describe the major challenges in the field of the superheavy elements and speculate about future directions.

Research Organization:
Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP)
Grant/Contract Number:
NA0004074; SC0013365; SC0023175
OSTI ID:
2315603
Journal Information:
Nature Reviews Physics, Journal Name: Nature Reviews Physics Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 6; ISSN 2522-5820
Publisher:
Springer NatureCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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