super heavy nuclei physics h190 a brief history of transuranium elements nuclear structure and...

14
Super Heavy Nuclei Physics H190 A Brief History Of Transuranium Elements Nuclear Structure and Stable Atoms The Search for The Island of Stability "Superheavies" : A modern approach Image Gallery

Post on 19-Dec-2015

218 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Super Heavy Nuclei Physics H190

A Brief History Of Transuranium Elements

Nuclear Structure and Stable Atoms

The Search for The Island of Stability

"Superheavies" : A modern approach

Image Gallery

A Brief History of Transuranium Elements Unstable Natural Nuclei → Polonium, Radium,

Uranium, Astatine The First : Neptunium (1940) One Runner Race: 10 Elements discovered at Cal

(1940-1960) Diminishing Returns: 10 Elements from 1960 - 2010

Nuclear Structure and Stable Atoms “Magic Number” configurations appear to be more

stable Shell Model, Nuclear Structure is analogous to

Electron Shells In General even combinations of nucleons are more

stable

Search For the Island Of Stability

Shell Model predicts a new magic number: 184 Search Focus : Z = 110-120 Difficulty lies in finding sufficiently heavy nuclei to fuse

“Superheavies” : A modern approach Single atom detectors allow us to push further than

before “Spray&Pray”, ~1pB cross section

Produced by fixed target accelerators

Targets: Lead, Curium, Americium

Summary

"We search for the island of stability because, like Mount Everest, it is there. But, as with Everest, there is profound emotion, too, infusing the scientific search to test a hypothesis. The quest for the magic island shows us that science is far from being coldness and calculation, as many people imagine, but is shot through with passion, longing and romance." — Oliver Sacks