Synthesis of 292116 in the 248Cm + 48Ca reaction

We report on the observation of the first decay event of the new nuclide ²⁹²116 produced in an experiment devoted to the synthesis of Z=116 nuclei in the ²⁴⁸Cm + ⁴⁸Ca reaction. The implantation of a heavy recoil in the focal-plane detector was followed in 46.9 ms by an α particle with E _α=10.56MeV. The energies and decay times of the descendant nuclei are in agreement with those observed in the decay chains of the even-even isotope ²⁸⁸114, previously produced in the ²⁴⁴Pu + ⁴⁸Ca reaction. Thus, the first α decay should be attributed to the parent nuclide ²⁹²116 produced via the evaporation of four neutrons in the complete fusion of ²⁴⁸Cm and ⁴⁸Ca. The experiment is in progress at Flerov Laboratory for Nuclear Reactions (FLNR, JINR, Dubna).