Heaviest Nuclei from 48 Ca-Induced Reactions

The observation of atomic numbers Z by 40% larger than that of Bi, the heaviest stable element, is an impressive extension in nuclear survival. Although the super heavy nuclei (SHN) are at the limits of Coulomb stability, shell stabilization lowers the ground-state energy, creates a fission barrier, and thereby enables the SHN to exist. The fundamentals of the modern theory concerning the mass limits of nuclear matter have thus obtained experimental verification.