Search for elements 119 and 120

J. Khuyagbaatar*, A. Yakushev, Ch E. Düllmann, D. Ackermann, L. L. Andersson, M. Asai, M. Block, R. A. Boll, H. Brand, D. M. Cox, M. Dasgupta, X. Derkx, A. Di Nitto, K. Eberhardt, J. Even, M. Evers, C. Fahlander, U. Forsberg, J. M. Gates, N. GharibyanP. Golubev, K. E. Gregorich, J. H. Hamilton, W. Hartmann, R. D. Herzberg, F. P. Heßberger, D. J. Hinde, J. Hoffmann, R. Hollinger, A. Hübner, E. Jäger, B. Kindler, J. V. Kratz, J. Krier, N. Kurz, M. Laatiaoui, S. Lahiri, R. Lang, B. Lommel, M. Maiti, K. Miernik, S. Minami, A. K. Mistry, C. Mokry, H. Nitsche, J. P. Omtvedt, G. K. Pang, P. Papadakis, D. Renisch, J. B. Roberto, D. Rudolph, J. Runke, K. P. Rykaczewski, L. G. Sarmiento, M. Schädel, B. Schausten, A. Semchenkov, D. A. Shaughnessy, P. Steinegger, J. Steiner, E. E. Tereshatov, P. Thörle-Pospiech, K. Tinschert, T. Torres De Heidenreich, N. Trautmann, A. Türler, J. Uusitalo, M. Wegrzecki, N. Wiehl, S. M. Van Cleve, V. Yakusheva

*Corresponding author for this work

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    Abstract

    A search for production of the superheavy elements with atomic numbers 119 and 120 was performed in the Ti50+Bk249 and Ti50+Cf249 fusion-evaporation reactions, respectively, at the gas-filled recoil separator TASCA at GSI Darmstadt, Germany. Over four months of irradiation, the Bk249 target partially decayed into Cf249, which allowed for a simultaneous search for both elements. Neither was detected at cross-section sensitivity levels of 65 and 200 fb for the Ti50+Bk249 and Ti50+Cf249 reactions, respectively, at a midtarget beam energy of Elab=281.5 MeV. The nonobservation of elements 119 and 120 is discussed within the concept of fusion-evaporation reactions including various theoretical predictions on the fission-barrier heights of superheavy nuclei in the region of the island of stability.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number064602
    JournalPhysical Review C
    Volume102
    Issue number6
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2 Dec 2020

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