Tuesday, 25 October 2022

Einsteinium + Calcium = Element 119

 I have a new paper published today: "Mean-field Simulations of Es-254 + Ca-48 Heavy-Ion Reactions", Paul D Stevenson, Frontiers in Physics 10, 1019285 (2022).  It's a rare single-author paper from me, reflecting my growing misanthropy with age.  

The work for the paper started a few years ago, when I attended a workshop in Japan on the subject, partly, of what one could do with a target of Einsteinium-254, which they had at JAEA (Japanese Atomic Energy Agency).  I took a look at some simulations of Es + Ca collisions which gives a compound system of element 119 - the next one beyond the highest-certified element 118 = Oganesson.  

The calculations showed some intersting cases where fusion occurred, and I have sat on them ever since wondering whether to publish them as is, or turn them into a more extensive set of calculations.  In the end, prompted by a call in Frontiers in Physics for a special issue on the subject of superheavy element synthesis, I decided to write what I had up as a "brief research report" and see if the referees would like it.  They did, well enough, and so it is now out there in the research record. 

Here's a zoom in of one of the pictures, where the reacting nuclei look like avocados:



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