Adding neutrons to synthetic atoms drastically alters shape of their nuclei, affects their stability
Monday, August 22, 2011 - 10:00
in Physics & Chemistry
To probe the evolution of atomic nuclei with different shape -- a factor which affects atomic stability -- a large team of international researchers has added neutrons to zirconium atoms and revealed the possibility of very unusual shapes. "The shape of a nucleus reflects the symmetry of its quantum state," explains team member Hiroyoshi Sakurai from the RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science in Wako, Japan. This result helps us to understand how many neutrons are needed for the most stable nuclei.