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Eighty Years of Research on Super-Heavy Nuclei

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New Horizons in Fundamental Physics

Part of the book series: FIAS Interdisciplinary Science Series ((FIAS))

Abstract

Extending borders is a strategy of evolution. So it is not astonishing that researchers wanted to know about the existence and properties of nuclei and elements beyond the known uranium. A short history is presented from early searches for trans-uraniums up to the production and safe identification of shell-stabilized super-heavy nuclei. The path is not only governed by noble and unambiguous scientific research, but also accompanied by errors and other human mistakes. However, obviously, evolution found the correct destination eventually. What can we expect for the future? Research using heavy ions will continue, accelerators and detectors will be improved, and theory will profit from inventive concepts and faster computers. Efforts will reveal the change of shell strength as function of proton and neutron number, the location of the most stable nuclei and how long their lifetime will be, the optimum method of their production, and, possibly, the existence of nucleonic formations and shapes, which are objects of speculation presently.

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Acknowledgments

It is my heartfelt wish to congratulate Walter Greiner on this special occasion of his 80th birthday which was celebrated in Makutsi in November 2015. Walter is one of the fathers of GSI founded in 1969. This farsighted initiative led to the discovery of the new elements from bohrium (Z \(=\) 107) to copernicium (112). Walter Greiner considered the study of super-heavy nuclei and elements as an opportunity to extend nuclear and atomic physics and chemistry far into the unknown resulting in new insights into the mysteries of nature. His ideas of ‘cold fusion valleys’ and fragmentation theory have driven successful experimental search for these super-heavy nuclei. I am particularly grateful for his continuous support especially in times of reduced resources and pessimistic assessments. With gratitude I remember the extensive discussions with him during taxi rides from Sheremetyevo airport to Dubna and back when we visited the program advisory committee at FLNR, which he led as chairman. Under the current circumstances my greatest wish for the future is that Walter Greiner may have a quick recovery from his illness. I am also deeply obliged to my colleagues at GSI and the former SHIP group and participating people from other laboratories or institutes, with whom I could spend a most exciting and challenging time doing experiments with heavy ions. The current article reproduces some text from an article published in J. Phys. G: Nucl. Part. Phys. 42, 114001 (2015). That article provides a wider comparison of experimental work on cold and hot fusion reactions based on targets of \(^{208}\)Pb, \(^{209}\)Bi and isotopes of actinides, respectively.

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  1. GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, Planckstrasse 1, 64291, Darmstadt, Germany

    Sigurd Hofmann

  2. Institut für Physik, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, 60438, Frankfurt, Germany

    Sigurd Hofmann

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  1. Sigurd Hofmann
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  1. FIAS, Goethe University FIAS, Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany

    Stefan Schramm

  2. Frankfurt Inst. for Advanced Studies, FIAS Frankfurt Inst. for Advanced Studies, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Mirko Schäfer

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Hofmann, S. (2017). Eighty Years of Research on Super-Heavy Nuclei. In: Schramm, S., Schäfer, M. (eds) New Horizons in Fundamental Physics. FIAS Interdisciplinary Science Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44165-8_2

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