The structure of the heavy nuclei

Superheavy nuclei represent the limit of nuclear mass and charge. The existence of such heavy nuclei hangs on a subtle balance between quantum mechanical shell effects and the disruptive Coulomb repulsion between protons that favours fission. After more than 40 years of experimental and theoretical efforts in this domain, the question where are the next closed spherical proton and neutron shells beyond 208Pb is still open. There is no evidence that there are magic spherical ones among the superheavy nuclei observed in experiment so far, and there is no consensus among theorists with regard to what should be the next doubly magic nucleus.

This topical two-day meeting on the structure of heavy and superheavy nuclei will discuss the current status and perspectives of the spectroscopy of transfermium nuclei from an experimental and theoretical point of view, and the possible routes how to make use of specific data about heavy nuclei to improve the performance and predictive power of theoretical models. We will discuss these issues with an emphasis on possible links between experiment and theory, keeping the format informal.

More information can be found in :

• Program
• List of participants
  

M. Bender (CENBG Bordeaux)
P.-H. Heenen (ULB Brussels)
G. de France (GANIL Caen) – defrance@ganil.fr