Spontaneous-fission decay properties and production cross-sections for the neutron-deficient nobelium isotopes formed in the 44, 48Ca + 204, 206, 208Pb reactions

Heavy-ion fusion reactions ⁴⁸Ca + ²⁰⁴Pb and ⁴⁴Ca + ²⁰⁸Pb leading to the same compound nucleus ²⁵²No^* were run in attempts to produce new neutron-deficient spontaneous-fission isotopes of ^249,250No using the electrostatic separator VASSILISSA. Production cross-sections for the spontaneous-fission activities with the half-lives 5.6 and 54 μs observed in these reactions are compared with the measured ones for the well-known isotopes of ^{251 - 255}No formed in the heavy-ion fusion reactions ⁴⁸Ca + ²⁰⁶Pb and ⁴⁸Ca + ²⁰⁸Pb. The obtained excitation functions for the reaction products formed after the evaporation of 1-4 neutrons from the corresponding compound No nuclei have been compared with similar data obtained earlier and results of statistical model calculations. Received: 26 July 2002 / Accepted: 5 November 2002 / Published online: 18 March 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: eremin@sunvas.jinr.ru Communicated by J. ?yst?     

The reaction 48Ca + 238U → 286112* studied at the GSI-SHIP

The fusion reaction of ⁴⁸Ca projectiles with ²³⁸U target nuclei was studied at the velocity filter SHIP of GSI in Darmstadt. Two decay chains were measured, which fully confirm data that were previously assigned to the isotope ²⁸³112 in experiments at the Flerov Laboratory in Dubna. Two other events are consistent with a 50% spontaneous-fission (SF) branch of this isotope. The mean value obtained for the half-life of ²⁸³112 is (6.9 ^+6.9 _-2.3 s, the α energy is (9.520±0.015) MeV, and the total kinetic energy (TKE) of SF is (238±14) MeV. The half-life of the α decay daughter nucleus ²⁷⁹Ds is (0.18 ^+0.32 _-0.07 s, and the TKE of SF is (210 ⁺³² _-11 MeV. The cross-section deduced from all four events is (0.72 ^+0.58 _-0.35 pb , measured at an excitation energy of 34.6MeV of the compound nucleus ²⁸⁶112.     

The new isotope 270110 and its decay products 266Hs and 262Sg

The even-even nucleus ²⁷⁰110 was synthesized using the reaction ⁶⁴Ni + ²⁰⁷Pb. A total of eight α-decay chains was measured during an irradiation time of seven days. Decay data were obtained for the ground-state and a high-spin K isomer. The new nuclei ²⁶⁶Hs and ²⁶²Sg were identified as daughter products after α-decay. Spontaneous fission of ²⁶²Sg terminates the decay chain. The measured data are in agreement with calculations using the macroscopic-microscopic model and with self-consistent HFB calculations with Skyrme-Sly4 interaction. Received: 27 November 2000 / Accepted: 16 January 2001     

New results on elements 111 and 112

Experiments on the synthesis and identification of the nuclei ²⁷²111 and ²⁷⁷112 were performed in order to confirm previous results. Three additional decay chains were measured in the reaction ⁶⁴Ni + ²⁰⁹Bi →²⁷³111^*. The study revealed considerably improved data on the decay chain originating from ²⁷²111. One additional chain was measured in the reaction ⁷⁰Zn + ²⁰⁸Pb →²⁷⁸112^*. The decay properties of the chain starting at ²⁷⁷112 are in excellent agreement with the second chain of the first experiment down to ²⁶⁵Sg, where the new chain ends by a previously unknown spontaneous-fission branch. A re-analysis of all the data on elements 110, 111, and 112 measured at GSI since 1994 (a total of 34 decay chains was investigated) revealed that for 2 chains (the second chain of ²⁶⁹110 measured in 1994 and the first chain of ²⁷⁷112 measured in 1996) the results of the new analysis differed from the previous one. In all other cases the earlier data are exactly reproduced. Received: 21 December 2001 / Accepted: 15 January 2002     

Synthesis and decay properties of superheavy atoms in nuclear reactions induced by stable and radioactive ion beams

This talk consists of two parts. The first one presents the results of investigations performed in 1998-2000 in Dubna on the synthesis of superheavy nuclei in reactions induced by ⁴⁸Ca ions. The radioactive decay properties of the nuclei, indicating a considerable increase in the α-decay and spontaneous fission half-lives of the isotopes of elements 110-116 when approaching the closed neutron shell at N = 184, are given. In the second part the possible ways of advancing into the region of more neutron-rich nuclei, using stable and radioactive ion beams, are discussed. Since so far no intense radioactive ion beams are available, some experiments with stable beams are considered as a test for the suggested ideas. Received: 1 May 2001 / Accepted: 4 December 2001     

On the quest of production of superheavy nuclei in reactions of 48Ca with the heaviest cctinide targets

The sequence of radioactive decays of an unknown isotope produced in a rare fusion reaction to known lighter isotopes is used to identify mass and atomic number of the mother isotope, which has been separated before from the bulk of other reaction products by an in-flight recoil separator. By this technique the elements 107 to 112 were produced by single atom decay-chain analysis. Such a correlation technique reaches its limit by the occurrence of accidental sequences and it collapses beyond a maximum possible correlation time, at which a true event cannot be distinguished anymore from a random event. ⁴⁸Ca-induced fusion reactions with actinides are discussed. In 1983 at GSI, Darmstadt and LBL, Berkeley, ⁴⁸Ca/²⁴⁸Cm-experiments (II) were performed, which are compared to recent ⁴⁸Ca-experiments at FLNR-Dubna (I) irradiating ²⁴⁴Pu, ²⁴²Pu, and ²³⁸U. In these experiments production of isotopes of superheavy elements 112 and 114 is claimed. Our analysis of accidental sequences in ⁴⁸Ca-induced reactions is presented, which is at variance with the published analysis from FLNR-Dubna. We find that the maximum correlation time using continuous beams at today existing separation systems is not in the one-hour regime, but in the few-minute regime. The five spontaneous fission events observed in the FLNR experiments are preceded by signals in the (1–16)-minute range. These times are shown to be longer than the maximum possible correlation times. The preceding signals are decoupled from the spontaneous fission signal and carry no information on the spontaneous fission events observed. Moreover, random probabilities of 0.2 to 0.6 for the signals preceding the fission events indicate that the correlations are of random origin. The evidence to have discovered element 114 in the reported experiments is classified “very weak”. Received: 13 October 1999     

Synthesis of superheavy nuclei in the reactions of 244Pu and 248Cm with 48Ca

This paper presents results of the experiments aimed at producing long-lived superheavy elements located near the spherical-shell closures with Z ⩾ 114 and N ⩾ 172 in the ²⁴⁴Pu + ⁴⁸Ca and ²⁴⁸Cm + ⁴⁸Ca reactions. The large measured α-particle energies of the newly observed nuclei, together with the long decay times and spontaneous fission terminating the chains, offer evidence of the decay of nuclei with high atomic numbers. The decay properties of the synthesized nuclei are consistent with the consecutive α-decays originating from the parent nuclides ^{288, 289}114 and ²⁹²116, produced in the 3n and 4n evaporation channels with cross-sections of about a picobarn. The present observations can be considered as experimental evidence of the existence of the “island of stability” of superheavy elements. Received: 21 March 2002 / Accepted: 16 May 2002 / Published online: 31 October 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: utyonkov@sungns.jinr.ru     

Startup of superheavy element chemistry at RIKEN

A review is given on the startup of the superheavy element (SHE) chemistry at RIKEN. A gas-jet transport system for the SHE chemistry has been coupled to the gas-filled recoil ion separator GARIS at the RIKEN Linear Accelerator. The performance of the system was appraised using ²⁰⁶Fr and ²⁴⁵Fm produced in the ¹⁶⁹Tm (⁴⁰Ar, 3n) ²⁰⁶Fr and ²⁰⁸Pb (⁴⁰Ar, 3n) ²⁴⁵Fm reactions, respectively. The α particles of ²⁰⁶Fr and ²⁴⁵Fm separated with GARIS and transported by the gas-jet were identified with a rotating wheel system for α spectrometry under desired low background condition. The high gas-jet efficiencies over 80% were independent of the beam intensities up to 2 particle μA. A gas-jet coupled target system for the production of SHEs was also installed on the beam line of the RIKEN K70 AVF cyclotron. The gas-jet transport of ²⁵⁵No and ²⁶¹Rf produced in the ²³⁸U (²²Ne, 5n) ²⁵⁵No and ²⁴⁸Cm (¹⁸O, 5n) ²⁶¹Rf reactions, respectively, was conducted for the future chemical studies of ²⁶⁵Sg via the ²⁴⁸Cm (²²Ne, 5n) ²⁶⁵Sg reaction.     

Search for new isotopes of element 112 by irradiation of 238U with 48Ca

The reaction ⁴⁸Ca+²³⁸U was investigated at the recoil separator VASSILISSA at the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions, JINR Dubna, in attempts to synthesize new isotopes of element 112. The experiments were performed at two beam energies resulting in excitation energies of the compound nucleus of 33 and 39 MeV. The collected beam dose was 3.5 × 10¹⁸ and 2.2 × 10¹⁸, respectively. Two spontaneous fission events were observed at the lower beam energy, which tentatively were assigned to the new neutron rich isotope ²⁸³112 produced in the reaction ²³⁸U(⁴⁸Ca,3n)²⁸³112. The measured cross-section is (5.0^+6.3 _−3.2) pb and the half–life is (81⁺¹⁴⁷ ₋₃₂) s. No event was observed at the higher beam energy resulting in the upper cross–section limit of 7.3 pb. Received: 12 October 1998 / Revised version: 12 January 1999     

The new isotope 217U

The new neutron deficient isotope ²¹⁷U was produced in the bombardment of the ¹⁸²W target with ⁴⁰Ar ions and identified using a recoil-- correlation method. The -decay energy and the half-life of ²¹⁷U were determined to be 8005 ± 20 keV and 15.6 ^+21.3 _-5.7 ms, respectively. Received: 18 May 2000 / Accepted: 21 June 2000     

Investigations into the alpha-decay of <Superscript>195</Superscript>At

The low-energy nuclear structure and decay properties of the neutron-deficient isotopes ¹⁹⁵At and ¹⁹¹Bi have been studied. ¹⁹⁵At was produced in the reaction ¹⁴²Nd(⁵⁶Fe,p2n)¹⁹⁵At and ¹⁹¹Bi as the daughter activity of ¹⁹⁵At. The activities were implanted in a position-sensitive silicon detector after being separated from the primary beam by a gas-filled recoil separator. The 1/2⁺ intruder state was determined to be the ground state in ¹⁹⁵At with an alpha-decay energy of E _α = 6953(3) keV and a half-life T _1/2 = 328(20) ms. Another state with an alpha-decay energy E _α = 7075(4) keV and a half-life T _1/2 = 147(5) ms was found to decay to a 148.7(5) keV excited state in ¹⁹¹Bi for which a spin and parity of 7/2^- were deduced. Consequently, the same 7/2^- character was assigned to the initial state at 32(7) keV in ¹⁹⁵At on the basis of unhindered alpha-decay. The 9/2^- state, being the ground state in heavier odd-mass astatine isotopes, was not observed. Received: 16 September 2002 / Accepted: 19 December 2002 / Published online: 25 March 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: heikki.kettunen@phys.jyu.fi RID="b" ID="b"Present address: Laboratory of Radiochemistry, P.O. Box 55, FIN-00014, University of Helsinki, Finland. RID="c" ID="c"Present address: Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, P.O. Box 14, FIN-00881 Helsinki, Finland. Communicated by W. Henning     

Accurate masses of unstable rare-earth isotopes by ISOLTRAP

Direct mass measurements of neutron-deficient rare-earth isotopes in the vicinity of ¹⁴⁶Gd were performed with the Penning trap mass spectrometer ISOLTRAP at ISOLDE/CERN. This paper reports on the measurement of more than 40 isotopes of the elements praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, dysprosium and holmium, that have been measured with a typical accuracy of m 14 keV. An atomic mass evaluation has been performed taking into account other experimental mass values via a least-squares adjustment. The results of the adjustment are discussed. Received: 18 April 2000 / Accepted: 12 July 2000     

ΛΛ-Ξ N coupling effects in light hypernuclei

The significance of ΛΛ-Ξ N coupling in double-Λ hypernuclei has been studied. The Pauli suppression effect due to this coupling in ⁶ _ΛΛ He has been found to be 0.43MeV for the coupling strength of the NSC97e potential. This indicates that the free-space ΛΛ interaction is stronger by an about 5^° phase shift than that deduced from the empirical data of ⁶ _ΛΛ He without including the Pauli suppression effect. In ⁵ _ΛΛ He and ⁵ _ΛΛ H, an attractive term arising from the ΛΛ-Ξ N conversion is enhanced by the formation of an alpha-particle in the intermediate Ξ states. According to this enhancement, we have found that the ΛΛ binding energy ( ΔB _ΛΛ) of ⁵ _ΛΛ He is about 0.27MeV larger than that of ⁶ _ΛΛ He for the NSC97e coupling strength. This finding deviates from the general picture that the heavier is the core nucleus, the larger is ΔB _ΛΛ.-1 Received: 17 July 2002 / Accepted: 27 September 2002 / Published online: 17 January 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: akaishi@post.ket.jp Communicated by A. Molinari     

Modeling a neutron-rich nuclei source

The deuteron break-up process in a suitable converter gives rise to intense neutron beams. A source of neutron-rich nuclei based on the neutron-induced fission can be realised using these beams. A theoretical optimization of such a facility as a function of the incident deuteron energy is reported. The model used to determine the fission products takes into account the excitation energy of the target nucleus and the evaporation of prompt neutrons. Results are presented in connection with a converter-target specific geometry. Received: 1 December 2000 / Accepted: 12 May 2001     

Superheavy element chemistry at GSI – status and perspectives

Superheavy elements have been synthesized and chemically characterized one-atom-at-a-time up to element 108. Presently, the quest for identification and investigation of element 112 is one of the hottest topics in this field. The transactinide elements 104 to 108 are members of group 4 to 8 of the periodic table and element 112 belongs into group 12. For some of these elements detailed chemical properties have been revealed which show stunning deviations from simple extrapolations within their respective group while others exhibit great similarities with their lighter homologues. All presently known chemical properties of seaborgium (Sg, element 106) — the heaviest element whose behavior was investigated in aqueous solution — and hassium (Hs, element 108) were obtained in experiments performed at the GSI in large international collaborations. Recently, the highly efficient and very clean separation of Hs was applied for nuclear studies of various Hs nuclides investigating their cross section and their nuclear decay properties in the region of the N=162 neutron shell. To overcome certain limitations of the presently used on-line chemical separations the new TransActinide Separator and Chemistry Apparatus (TASCA) — with a gas-filled recoil separator as a front-end tool — was designed and built at the GSI in a collaborative effort. Presently in its commissioning phase, TASCA shall be a key instrument for a big leap into quantitatively and qualitatively new experiments in the region of superheavy elements.     

Carbon clusters for absolute mass measurements at ISOLTRAP

The cyclotron frequencies of singly charged carbon clusters C_n ⁺ (n ≥ 2) were measured with the Penning-trap mass spectrometer ISOLTRAP at ISOLDE/CERN. The present limit of mass accuracy δm/m = 1.2 ^. 10^-8 and the extent of the mass-dependent systematic shift (δm/m)_sys = 1.7(0.6) ^. 10^-10/u ^. (m - m _ref) of the setup were investigated for the first time. In addition, absolute mass measurements by use of pure clusters of the most abundant carbon isotope ¹²C are now possible at ISOLTRAP. Received: 21 March 2002 / Accepted: 16 May 2002 / Published online: 31 October 2002 RID="a" ID="a"Present address: CERN, CH-1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland; e-mail: klaus.blaum@cern.ch     

Jets of nuclear matter in He-A T inelastic collisions at 4.5 A GeV/c

The problem of the nuclear matter jets in nucleus-nucleus collisions at 4.5 A GeV/c is discussed. The global analysis of experimental data, namely the sphericity tensor, is used to evidence such jets. The experimental results are compared with those obtained in the same collisions for hydrodynamic flow and thrust. The experiments have been performed in the frame of the SKM 200 Collaboration from JINR Dubna. Received: 20 March 1997 / Revised version: 20 July 1997     

What is the physics behind the 3He–4He anomaly?

We show that coalescence of nucleons emitted prior to thermalization in highly excited nuclei can explain the anomaly of kinetic energies of helium clusters. A new coalescence algorithm has been included in the statistical approach to nuclear reactions formerly used to describe intermediate mass fragment production. Received: 24 September 1999 / Revised version: 22 November 1999     

Reaction dynamics of synthesis of superheavy elements

Based on the theory of the compound nucleus reaction, a brief review is given on the special aspects of the reaction dynamics in the synthesis of the superheavy elements (SHE), where the fusion probability is the most unknown factor. A new viewpoint of the fusion reaction is proposed that it consists of two processes; the first process up to the contact of two nuclei of the incident channel and the second one of a dynamical evolution to the spherical compound nucleus from the contact configuration. The fusion probability is, thus, given as a product of a contact probability and a formation probability. Analytic studies of the latter probability are discussed in the one-dimensional model, where a simple expression is given to the so-called extra-push energy in terms of the reduced friction, the curvature parameter of the conditional saddle point and the nuclear temperature. Preliminary results of numerical analyses of the contact probability are given, using the surface friction model (SFM). Remarks are given on the present status of our knowledge and for future developments. Received: 1 May 2001 / Accepted: 4 December 2001